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diff --git a/old/inbio10.txt b/old/inbio10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4c76772 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/inbio10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12465 @@ +*The Project Gutenberg Etext of Industrial Biography by Smiles* + +[A history of machines and machining, including some references +to early calculating machines. This was a rough printing, some +scanning errors occurred that we probably have not caught. Let +us know if you find more. Thanks.] + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + + +INDUSTRIAL BIOGRAPHY + + +Iron Workers and Tool Makers + + +by Samuel Smiles + + +(this etext was produced from a reprint of the 1863 first edition) + + +PREFACE. + +The Author offers the following book as a continuation, in a more +generally accessible form, of the Series of Memoirs of Industrial Men +introduced in his Lives of the Engineers. While preparing that work +he frequently came across the tracks of celebrated inventors, +mechanics, and iron-workers--the founders, in a great measure, of the +modern industry of Britain--whose labours seemed to him well worthy +of being traced out and placed on record, and the more so as their +lives presented many points of curious and original interest. Having +been encouraged to prosecute the subject by offers of assistance from +some of the most eminent living mechanical engineers, he is now +enabled to present the following further series of memoirs to the +public. + +Without exaggerating the importance of this class of biography, it +may at least be averred that it has not yet received its due share of +attention. While commemorating the labours and honouring the names of +those who have striven to elevate man above the material and +mechanical, the labours of the important industrial class to whom +society owes so much of its comfort and well-being are also entitled +to consideration. Without derogating from the biographic claims of +those who minister to intellect and taste, those who minister to +utility need not be overlooked. When a Frenchman was praising to Sir +John Sinclair the artist who invented ruffles, the Baronet shrewdly +remarked that some merit was also due to the man who added the shirt. + +A distinguished living mechanic thus expresses himself to the Author +on this point: - "Kings, warriors, and statesmen have heretofore +monopolized not only the pages of history, but almost those of +biography. Surely some niche ought to be found for the Mechanic, +without whose skill and labour society, as it is, could not exist. I +do not begrudge destructive heroes their fame, but the constructive +ones ought not to be forgotten; and there IS a heroism of skill and +toil belonging to the latter class, worthy of as grateful +record,--less perilous and romantic, it may be, than that of the +other, but not less full of the results of human energy, bravery, and +character. The lot of labour is indeed often a dull one; and it is +doing a public service to endeavour to lighten it up by records of +the struggles and triumphs of our more illustrious workers, and the +results of their labours in the cause of human advancement." + +As respects the preparation of the following memoirs, the Author's +principal task has consisted in selecting and arranging the materials +so liberally placed at his disposal by gentlemen for the most part +personally acquainted with the subjects of them, and but for whose +assistance the book could not have been written. The materials for +the biography of Henry Maudslay, for instance, have been partly +supplied by the late Mr. Joshua Field, F.R.S. (his partner), but +principally by Mr. James Nasmyth, C.E., his distinguished pupil. In +like manner Mr. John Penn, C.E., has supplied the chief materials for +the memoir of Joseph Clement, assisted by Mr. Wilkinson, Clement's +nephew. The Author has also had the valuable assistance of Mr. +William Fairbairn, F.R.S., Mr. J. O. March, tool manufacturer (Mayor +of Leeds), Mr. Richard Roberts, C.E., Mr. Henry Maudslay, C.E., and +Mr. J. Kitson, Jun., iron manufacturer, Leeds, in the preparation of +the other memoirs of mechanical engineers included in this volume. + +The materials for the memoirs of the early iron-workers have in like +manner been obtained for the most part from original sources; those +of the Darbys and Reynoldses from Mr. Dickinson of Coalbrookdale, Mr. +William Reynolds of Coed-du, and Mr. William G. Norris of the former +place, as well as from Mr. Anstice of Madeley Wood, who has kindly +supplied the original records of the firm. The substance of the +biography of Benjamin Huntsman, the inventor of cast-steel, has been +furnished by his lineal representatives; and the facts embodied in +the memoirs of Henry Cort and David Mushet have been supplied by the +sons of those inventors. To Mr. Anderson Kirkwood of Glasgow the +Author is indebted for the memoir of James Beaumont Neilson, inventor +of the hot blast; and to Mr. Ralph Moore, Inspector of Mines in +Scotland, for various information relative to the progress of the +Scotch iron manufacture. + +The memoirs of Dud Dudley and Andrew Yarranton are almost the only +ones of the series in preparing which material assistance has been +derived from books; but these have been largely illustrated by facts +contained in original documents preserved in the State Paper Office, +the careful examination of which has been conducted by Mr. W. Walker +Wilkins. + +It will thus be observed that most of the information embodied in +this volume, more especially that relating to the inventors of tools +and machines, has heretofore existed only in the memories of the +eminent mechanical engineers from whom it has been collected. The +estimable Joshua Field has died since the date at which he +communicated his recollections; and in a few more years many of the +facts which have been caught and are here placed on record would, +probably, in the ordinary course of things, have passed into +oblivion. As it is, the Author feels that there are many gaps yet to +be filled up; but the field of Industrial Biography is a wide one,and +is open to all who will labour in it. + + +London, October, 1863. + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I. + +IRON AND CIVILIZATION. + +The South Sea Islanders and iron +Uses of iron for tools +The Stone, Bronze, and Iron ages +Recent discoveries in the beds of the Swiss lakes +Iron the last metal to come into general use, and why +The first iron smelters +Early history of iron in Britain +The Romans +Social importance of the Smith in early times +Enchanted swords +Early scarcity of iron in Scotland +Andrea de Ferrara +Scarcity of iron in England at the time of the Armada +Importance of iron for national defence + + +CHAPTER II. + +BEGINNINGS OF THE IRON-MANUFACTURER IN BRITAIN. + +Iron made in the Forest of Dean in Anglo-Saxon times +Monkish iron-workers +Early iron-smelting in Yorkshire +Much iron imported from abroad +Iron manufactures of Sussex +Manufacture of cannon +Wealthy ironmasters of Sussex +Founder of the Gale family +Extensive exports of English ordnance +Destruction of timber in iron-smelting +The manufacture placed under restrictions +The Sussex furnaces blown out + + +CHAPTER III. + +IRON SMELTING BY PIT-COAL--DUD DUDLEY. + +Greatly reduced production of English iron +Proposal to use pit-coal instead of charcoal of wood in smelting +Sturtevant's patent +Rovenson's +Dud Dudley; his family his history +Uses pit-coal to smelt iron with success +Takes out his patent +The quality of the iron proved by tests +Dudley's works swept away by a flood +Rebuilds his works, and they are destroyed by a mob +Renewal of his patent +Outbreak of the Civil War +Dudley joins the Royalists, and rises to be General of artillery +His perilous adventures and hair-breadth escapes +His estate confiscated +Recommences iron-smelting +Various attempts to smelt with pit-coal +Dudley's petitions to the King +His death + + +CHAPTER IV. + +ANDREW YARRANTON. + +A forgotten patriot +The Yarranton family +Andrew Yarranton's early life +A soldier under the Parliament +Begins iron works +Is seized and imprisoned +His plans for improving internal navigation +Improvements in agriculture +Manufacture of tin plate +His journey into Saxony to learn it +Travels in Holland +His views of trade and industry +His various projects +His 'England's Improvement by Sea and Land' +His proposed Land Bank +His proposed Registry of Real Estate +His controversies +His iron-mining +Value of his labours + + +CHAPTER V. + +COALBROOKDALE IRON WORKS--THE DARBYS AND REYNOLDSES. + +Failure in the attempts to smelt iron with pit-coal +Dr. Blewstone's experiment +Decay of the ironmanufacture +Abraham Darby +His manufacture of cast-iron pots at Bristol +Removes to Coalbrookdale +His method of smelting iron +Increased use of coke +Use of pit-coal by Richard Ford +Richard Reynolds joins the Coalbrookdale firm +Invention of the Craneges in iron-refining +Letter of Richard Reynolds on the subject +Invention of cast-iron rails by Reynolds +Abraham Darby the Second constructs the first iron bridge +Extension of the Coalbrookdale Works +William Reynolds: his invention of inclined planes for working canals +Retirement of Richard Reynolds from the firm +His later years, character, and death + + +CHAPTER VI. + +INVENTION OF CAST STEEL - BENJAMIN HUNTSMAN. + +Conversion of iron into steel +Early Sheffield manufactures +Invention of blistered steel +Important uses of cast-steel +Le Play's writings on the subject +Early career of Benjamin Huntsman at Doncaster +His experiments in steel-making +Removes to the neighbourhood of Sheffield +His laborious investigations, failures, and eventual success +Process of making cast-steel +The Sheffield manufacturers refuse to use it +Their opposition foiled +How they wrested Huntsman's secret from him +Important results of the invention to the industry of Sheffield +Henry Bessemer and his process +Heath's invention +Practical skill of the Sheffield artisans + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE INVENTIONS OF HENRY CORT. + +Parentage of Henry Cort +Becomes a navy agent +State of the iron trade +Cort's experiments in iron-making +Takes a foundry at Fontley +Partnership with Jellicoe +Various improvers in iron-making: Roebuck, Cranege, Onions +Cort's improved processes described +His patents +His inventions adopted by Crawshay, Homfray, and other ironmasters +Cort's iron approved by the Admiralty +Public defalcations of Adam Jellicoe, Cort's partner +Cort's property and patents confiscated +Public proceedings thereon +Ruin of Henry Cort +Account of Richard Crawshay, the great ironmaster +His early life +Ironmonger in London +Starts an iron-furnace at Merthyr Tydvil +Projects and makes a canal +Growth of Merthyr Tydvil and its industry +Henry Cort the founder of the iron aristocracy, himself unrewarded + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE SCOTCH IRON MANUFACTURE--Dr. ROEBUCK--DAVID MUSHET. + +Dr. Roebuck, a forgotten public benefactor +His birth and education +Begins business as a physician at Birmingham +Investigations in metallurgy +Removes to Scotland, and begins the manufacture of chemicals, &c. +Starts the Carron Iron Works, near Falkirk +His invention of refining iron in a pit-coal fire +Embarks in coal-mining at Boroughstoness +Residence at Kinneil House +Pumping-engines wanted for his colliery +Is introduced to James Watt +Progress of Watt in inventing the steam-engine +Interviews with Dr. Roebuck +Roebuck becomes a partner in the steam-engine patent +Is involved in difficulties, and eventually ruined +Advance of the Scotch iron trade +Discovery of the Black Band by David Mushet +Early career of Mushet +His laborious experiments +His inventions and discoveries in iron and steel, and death + + +CHAPTER IX. + +INVENTION OF THE HOT BLAST--JAMES BEAUMONT NEILSON. + +Difficulty of smelting the Black Band by ordinary process until the + invention of the hot blast +Early career of James Beaumont Neilson +Education and apprenticeship +Works as an engine-fireman +As colliery engine-wright +Appointed foreman of the Glasgow Gas-works; afterwards manager and engineer +His self-education +His Workmen's Institute +His experiments in iron-smelting +Trials with heated air in the blast-furnace +Incredulity of ironmasters +Success of his experiments, and patenting of his process +His patent right disputed, and established +Extensive application of the hot blast +Increase of the Scotch iron trade +Extraordinary increase in the value of estates yielding Black Band +Scotch iron aristocracy + + +CHAPTER X. + +MECHANICAL INVENTIONS AND INVENTORS. + +Tools and civilization +The beginnings of tools +Dexterity of hand chiefly relied on +Opposition to manufacturing machines +Gradual process of invention +The human race the true inventor +Obscure origin of many inventions +Inventions born before their time +"Nothing new under the sun" +The power of steam known to the ancients +Passage from Roger Bacon +Old inventions revived + Printing + Atmospheric locomotion + The balloon + The reaping machine + Tunnels + Gunpowder + Ancient firearms + The steam gun + The Congreve rocket + Coal-gas + Hydropathy + Anaesthetic agents + The Daguerreotype anticipated + The electric telegraph not new +Forgotten inventors +Disputed inventions +Simultaneous inventions +Inventions made step by step +James Watt's difficulties with his workmen +Improvements in modern machine-tools +Their perfection +The engines of "The Warrior" + + +CHAPTER XI. + +JOSEPH BRAMAH. + +The inventive faculty +Joseph Bramah's early life +His amateur work +Apprenticed to a carpenter +Starts as cabinet-maker in London +Takes out a patent for his water-closet +Makes pumps and ironwork +Invention of his lock +Invents tools required in lock-making +Invents his hydrostatic machine +His hydraulic press +The leathern collar invented by Henry Maudslay +Bramah's other inventions +His fire-engine +His beer-pump +Improvements in the steam-engine +His improvements in machine-tools +His number-printing machine +His pen-cutter +His hydraulic machinery +Practises as civil engineer +Altercation with William Huntington, "S.S." +Bramah's character and death + + +CHAPTER XII. + +HENRY MAUDSLAY. + +The Maudslays +Henry Maudslay +Employed as powder-boy in Woolwich Arsenal +Advanced to the blacksmiths' shop +His early dexterity in smith-work +His "trivet" making +Employed by Bramah +Proves himself a first-class workman +Advanced to be foreman of the works +His inventions of tools required for lock-making +His invention of the leathern collar in the hydraulic press +Leaves Bramah's service and begins business for himself +His first smithy in Wells Street +His first job +Invention of the slide-lathe +Resume of the history of the turning-lathe +Imperfection of tools about the middle of last century +The hand-lathe +Great advantages of the slide rest +First extensively used in constructing Brunel's Block Machinery +Memoir of Brunel +Manufacture of ships' blocks +Sir S. Bentham's specifications +Introduction of Brunel to Maudslay +The block-machinery made, and its success +Increased operations of the firm +Improvements in the steam-engine +Invention of the punching-machine +Further improvements in the slide-lathe +Screw-cutting machine +Maudslay a dexterous and thoughtful workman +His character described by his pupil, James Nasmyth +Anecdotes and traits +Maudslay's works a first-class school for workmen +His mode of estimating character +His death + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +JOSEPH CLEMENT. + +Skill in contrivance a matter of education +Birth and parentage of Joseph Clement +Apprenticed to the trade of a slater +His skill in amateur work +Makes a turning-lathe +Gives up slating, and becomes a mechanic +Employed at Kirby Stephen in making power-looms +Removes to Carlisle +Glasgow +Peter Nicholson teaches him drawing +Removes to Aberdeen +Works as a mechanic and attends College +London +Employed by Alexander Galloway +Employed by Bramah +Advanced to be foreman +Draughtsman at Maudslay and Field's +Begins business on his own account +His skill as a mechanical draughtsman +Invents his drawing instrument +His drawing-table +His improvements in the self-acting lathe +His double-driving centre-chuck and two-armed driver +His fluted taps and dies +Invention of his Planing Machine +Employed to make Babbage's Calculating Machine +Resume of the history of apparatus for making calculations +Babbage's engine proceeded with +Its great cost +Interruption of the work +Clement's steam-whistles +Makes an organ +Character and death + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +FOX OF DERBY--MURRAY OF LEEDS--ROBERTS AND WHITWORTH OF MANCHESTER. + +The first Fox of Derby originally a butler +His genius for mechanics +Begins business as a machinist +Invents a Planing Machine +Matthew Murray's Planing Machine +Murray's early career +Employed as a blacksmith by Marshall of Leeds +His improvements of flax-machinery +Improvements in steam-engines +Makes the first working locomotive for Mr. Blenkinsop +Invents the Heckling Machine +His improvements in tools +Richard Roberts of Manchester +First a quarryman, next a pattern-maker +Drawn for the militia, and flies +His travels +His first employment at Manchester +Goes to London, and works at Maudslay's +Roberts's numerous inventions +Invents a planing machine +The self-acting mule +Iron billiard-tables +Improvements in the locomotive +Invents the Jacquard punching machine +Makes turret-clocks and electro-magnets +Improvement in screw-steamships +Mr. Whitworth's improvement of the planing machine +His method of securing true surfaces +His great mechanical skill + + +CHAPTER XV. + +JAMES NASMYTH. + +Traditional origin of the Naesmyths +Alexander Nasmyth the painter, and his family +Early years of James Nasmyth +The story of his life told by himself +Becomes a pupil of Henry Maudslay +How he lived and worked in London +Begins business at Manchester +Story of the invention of the Steam Hammer +The important uses of the Hammer in modem engineering +Invents the steam pile-driving machine +Designs a new form of steam-engine +Other inventions How he "Scotched" a strike +Uses of strikes +Retirement from business +Skill as a draughtsman +Curious speculations on antiquarian subjects +Mr. Nasmyth's wonderful discoveries in Astronomy + described by Sir John Herschel + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. + +Summary of progress in machine-tools +William Fairbairn's early years +His education +Life in the Highlands +Begins work at Kelso Bridge +An apprentice at Percy Main Colliery, North Shields +Diligent self-culture +Voyage to London +Adventures +Prevented obtaining work by the Millwrights' Union +Travels into the country, finds work, and returns to London +His first order, to make a sausage-chopping machine +Wanderschaft +Makes nail-machinery for a Dublin employer +Proceeds to Manchester, where he settles and marries +Begins business +His first job +Partnership with Mr. Lillie +Employed by Messrs. Adam Murray and Co. +Employed by Messrs. MacConnel and Kennedy +Progress of the Cotton Trade +Memoir of John Kennedy +Mr. Fairbairn introduces great improvements in the gearing, &c. + of mill machinery +Increasing business Improvements in water-wheels +Experiments as to the law of traction of boats +Begins building iron ships +Experiments on the strength of wrought iron +Britannia and Conway Tubular Bridges +Reports on iron +On boiler explosions +Iron construction +Extended use of iron +Its importance in civilization +Opinion of Mr. Cobden +Importance of modern machine-tools +Conclusion + + + +INDUSTRIAL BIOGRAPHY. + + +CHAPTER I. + +IRON AND CIVILIZATION. + +"Iron is not only the soul of every other manufacture, but the main +spring perhaps of civilized society."--FRANCIS HORNER. + +"Were the use of iron lost among us, we should in a few ages be +unavoidably reduced to the wants and ignorance of the ancient savage +Americans; so that he who first made known the use of that +contemptible mineral may be truly styled the father of Arts and the +author of Plenty."--JOHN LOCKE. + + +When Captain Cook and the early navigators first sailed into the +South Seas on their voyages of discovery, one of the things that +struck them with most surprise was the avidity which the natives +displayed for iron. "Nothing would go down with our visitors," says +Cook, "but metal; and iron was their beloved article." A nail would +buy a good-sized pig; and on one occasion the navigator bought some +four hundred pounds weight of fish for a few wretched knives +improvised out of an old hoop. + +"For iron tools," says Captain Carteret, "we might have purchased +everything upon the Freewill Islands that we could have brought away. +A few pieces of old iron hoop presented to one of the natives threw +him into an ecstasy little short of distraction." At Otaheite the +people were found generally well-behaved and honest; but they were +not proof against the fascinations of iron. Captain Cook says that +one of them, after resisting all other temptations, "was at length +ensnared by the charms of basket of nails." Another lurked about for +several days, watching the opportunity to steal a coal-rake. + +The navigators found they could pay their way from island to island +merely with scraps of iron, which were as useful for the purpose as +gold coins would have been in Europe. The drain, however, being +continuous, Captain Cook became alarmed at finding his currency +almost exhausted; and he relates his joy on recovering an old anchor +which the French Captain Bougainville had lost at Bolabola, on which +he felt as an English banker would do after a severe run upon him for +gold, when suddenly placed in possession of a fresh store of bullion. + +The avidity for iron displayed by these poor islanders will not be +wondered at when we consider that whoever among them was so fortunate +as to obtain possession of an old nail, immediately became a man of +greater power than his fellows, and assumed the rank of a capitalist. +"An Otaheitan chief," says Cook, "who had got two nails in his +possession, received no small emolument by letting out the use of +them to his neighbours for the purpose of boring holes when their own +methods failed, or were thought too tedious." + +The native methods referred to by Cook were of a very clumsy sort; +the principal tools of the Otaheitans being of wood, stone, and +flint. Their adzes and axes were of stone. The gouge most commonly +used by them was made out of the bone of the human forearm. Their +substitute for a knife was a shell, or a bit of flint or jasper. +A shark's tooth, fixed to a piece of wood, served for an auger; +a piece of coral for a file; and the skin of a sting-ray for a +polisher. Their saw was made of jagged fishes' teeth fixed on the +convex edge of a piece of hard wood. Their weapons were of a +similarly rude description; their clubs and axes were headed with +stone, and their lances and arrows were tipped with flint. Fire was +another agency employed by them, usually in boat-building. Thus, the +New Zealanders, whose tools were also of stone, wood, or bone, made +their boats of the trunks of trees hollowed out by fire. + +The stone implements were fashioned, Captain Cook says, by rubbing +one stone upon another until brought to the required shape; but, +after all, they were found very inefficient for their purpose. They +soon became blunted and useless; and the laborious process of making +new tools had to be begun again. The delight of the islanders at +being put in possession of a material which was capable of taking a +comparatively sharp edge and keeping it, may therefore readily be +imagined; and hence the remarkable incidents to which we have +referred in the experience of the early voyagers. In the minds of the +natives, iron became the representative of power, efficiency, and +wealth; and they were ready almost to fall down and worship their new +tools, esteeming the axe as a deity, offering sacrifices to the saw, +and holding the knife in especial veneration. + +In the infancy of all nations the same difficulties must have been +experienced for want of tools, before the arts of smelting and +working in metals had become known; and it is not improbable that the +Phoenician navigators who first frequented our coasts found the same +avidity for bronze and iron existing among the poor woad-stained +Britons who flocked down to the shore to see their ships and exchange +food and skins with them, that Captain Cook discovered more than two +thousand years later among the natives of Otaheite and New Zealand. +For, the tools and weapons found in ancient burying-places in all +parts of Britain clearly show that these islands also have passed +through the epoch of stone and flint. + +There was recently exhibited at the Crystal Palace a collection of +ancient European weapons and implements placed alongside a similar +collection of articles brought from the South Seas; and they were in +most respects so much alike that it was difficult to believe that +they did not belong to the same race and period, instead of being the +implements of races sundered by half the globe, and living at periods +more than two thousand years apart. Nearly every weapon in the one +collection had its counterpart in the other,--the mauls or celts of +stone, the spearheads of flint or jasper, the arrowheads of flint or +bone, and the saws of jagged stone, showing how human ingenuity, +under like circumstances, had resorted to like expedients. It would +also appear that the ancient tribes in these islands, like the New +Zealanders, used fire to hollow out their larger boats; several +specimens of this kind of vessel having recently been dug up in the +valleys of the Witham and the Clyde, some of the latter from under +the very streets of modern Glasgow.* + [footnote... +"Mr.John Buchanan, a zealous antiquary, writing in 1855, informs us +that in the course of the eight years preceding that date, no less +than seventeen canoes had been dug out of this estuarine silt [of the +valley of the Clyde], and that he had personally inspected a large +number of them before they were exhumed. Five of them lay buried in +silt under the streets of Glasgow, one in a vertical position with +the prow uppermost, as if it had sunk in a storm.... Almost every one +of these ancient boats was formed out of a single oak-stem, hollowed +out by blunt tools, probably stone axes, aided by the action of fire; +a few were cut beautifully smooth, evidently with metallic tools. +Hence a gradation could be traced from a pattern of extreme rudeness +to one showing great mechanical ingenuity.... In one of the canoes a +beautifully polished celt or axe of greenstone was found; in the +bottom of another a plug of cork, which, as Mr. Geikie remarks, +'could only have come from the latitudes of Spain, Southern France, +or Italy.'"-- Sir C. LYELL, Antiquity of Man, 48-9. + ...] +Their smaller boats, or coracles, were made of osiers interwoven, +covered with hides, and rigged with leathern sails and thong tackle. + +It will readily be imagined that anything like civilization, as at +present understood, must have been next to impossible under such +circumstances. "Miserable indeed," says Carlyle, "was the condition +of the aboriginal savage, glaring fiercely from under his fleece of +hair, which with the beard reached down to his loins, and hung round +them like a matted cloak; the rest of his body sheeted in its thick +natural fell. He loitered in the sunny glades of the forest, living +on wild fruits; or, as the ancient Caledonians, squatted himself in +morasses, lurking for his bestial or human prey; without implements, +without arms, save the ball of heavy flint, to which, that his sole +possession and defence might not be lost, he had attached a long cord +of plaited thongs; thereby recovering as well as hurling it with +deadly, unerring skill." + +The injunction given to man to "replenish the earth and subdue it" +could not possibly be fulfilled with implements of stone. To fell a +tree with a flint hatchet would occupy the labour of a month, and to +clear a small patch of ground for purposes of culture would require +the combined efforts of a tribe. For the same reason, dwellings could +not be erected; and without dwellings domestic tranquillity, +security, culture, and refinement, especially in a rude climate, were +all but impossible. Mr. Emerson well observes, that "the effect of a +house is immense on human tranquillity, power, and refinement. A man +in a cave or a camp--a nomad--dies with no more estate than the wolf +or the horse leaves. But so simple a labour as a house being +achieved, his chief enemies are kept at bay. He is safe from the +teeth of wild animals, from frost, sunstroke, and weather; and fine +faculties begin to yield their fine harvest. Inventions and arts are +born, manners, and social beauty and delight." But to build a house +which should serve for shelter, for safety, and for comfort--in a +word, as a home for the family, which is the nucleus of +society--better tools than those of stone were absolutely +indispensable. + +Hence most of the early European tribes were nomadic: first hunters, +wandering about from place to place like the American Indians, after +the game; then shepherds, following the herds of animals which they +had learnt to tame, from one grazing-ground to another, living upon +their milk and flesh, and clothing themselves in their skins held +together by leathern thongs. It was only when implements of metal had +been invented that it was possible to practise the art of agriculture +with any considerable success. Then tribes would cease from their +wanderings, and begin to form settlements, homesteads, villages, and +towns. An old Scandinavian legend thus curiously illustrates this +last period: -- There was a giantess whose daughter one day saw a +husbandman ploughing in the field. She ran and picked him up with her +finger and thumb, put him and his plough and oxen into her apron, and +carried them to her mother, saying, "Mother, what sort of beetle is +this that I have found wriggling in the sand? " But the mother said, +"Put it away, my child; we must begone out of this land, for these +people will dwell in it." + +M. Worsaae of Copenhagen, who has been followed by other antiquaries, +has even gone so far as to divide the natural history of civilization +into three epochs, according to the character of the tools used in +each. The first was the Stone period, in which the implements chiefly +used were sticks, bones, stones, and flints. The next was the Bronze +period, distinguished by the introduction and general use of a metal +composed of copper and tin, requiring a comparatively low degree of +temperature to smelt it, and render it capable of being fashioned +into weapons, tools, and implements; to make which, however, +indicated a great advance in experience, sagacity, and skill in the +manipulation of metals. With tools of bronze, to which considerable +hardness could be given, trees were felled, stones hewn, houses and +ships built, and agriculture practised with comparative facility. +Last of all came the Iron period, when the art of smelting and +working that most difficult but widely diffused of the minerals was +discovered; from which point the progress made in all the arts of +life has been of the most remarkable character. + +Although Mr. Wright rejects this classification as empirical, because +the periods are not capable of being clearly defined, and all the +three kinds of implements are found to have been in use at or about +the same time,* + [footnote... +THOMAS WRIGHT, F.S.A., The Celt, The Roman, and The Saxon, +ed. 1861. + ...] +there is, nevertheless, reason to believe that it is, on the whole, +well founded. It is doubtless true that implements of stone continued +in use long after those of bronze and iron had been invented, arising +most probably from the dearness and scarcity of articles of metal; +but when the art of smelting and working in iron and steel had +sufficiently advanced, the use of stone, and afterwards of bronze +tools and weapons, altogether ceased. + +The views of M. Worsaae, and the other Continental antiquarians who +follow his classification, have indeed received remarkable +confirmation of late years, by the discoveries which have been made +in the beds of most of the Swiss lakes.* + [footnote... +Referred to at length in the Antiquity of Man, by Sir C. Lyell, who +adopts M. Worsaae's classification. + ...] +It appears that a subsidence took place in the waters of the Lake of +Zurich in the year 1854, laying bare considerable portions of its +bed. The adjoining proprietors proceeded to enclose the new land, and +began by erecting permanent dykes to prevent the return of the +waters. While carrying on the works, several rows of stakes were +exposed; and on digging down, the labourers turned up a number of +pieces of charred wood, stones blackened by fire, utensils, bones, +and other articles, showing that at some remote period, a number of +human beings had lived over the spot, in dwellings supported by +stakes driven into the bed of the lake. + +The discovery having attracted attention, explorations were made at +other places, and it was shortly found that there was scarcely a lake +in Switzerland which did not yield similar evidence of the existence +of an ancient Lacustrine or Lake-dwelling population. Numbers of +their tools and implements were brought to light--stone axes and +saws, flint arrowheads, bone needles, and such like--mixed with the +bones of wild animals slain in the chase; pieces of old boats, +portions of twisted branches, bark, and rough planking, of which +their dwellings had been formed, the latter still bearing the marks +of the rude tools by which they had been laboriously cut. In the most +ancient, or lowest series of deposits, no traces of metal, either of +bronze or iron, were discovered; and it is most probable that these +lake-dwellers lived in as primitive a state as the South Sea +islanders discovered by Captain Cook, and that the huts over the +water in which they lived resembled those found in Papua and Borneo, +and the islands of the Salomon group, to this day. + +These aboriginal Swiss lake-dwellers seem to have been succeeded by a +race of men using tools, implements, and ornaments of bronze. In some +places the remains of this bronze period directly overlay those of the +stone period, showing the latter to have been the most ancient; but in +others, the village sites are altogether distinct. The articles with +which the metal implements are intermixed, show that considerable +progress had been made in the useful arts. The potter's wheel had been +introduced. Agriculture had begun, and wild animals had given place to +tame ones. The abundance of bronze also shows that commerce must have +existed to a certain extent; for tin, which enters into its +composition, is a comparatively rare metal, and must necessarily have +been imported from other European countries. + +The Swiss antiquarians are of opinion that the men of bronze suddenly +invaded and extirpated the men of flint; and that at some still later +period, another stronger and more skilful race, supposed to have been +Celts from Gaul, came armed with iron weapons, to whom the men of +bronze succumbed, or with whom, more probably, they gradually +intermingled. When iron, or rather steel, came into use, its +superiority in affording a cutting edge was so decisive that it seems +to have supplanted bronze almost at once;* + [footnote... +Mr. Mushet, however, observes that "the general use of hardened +copper by the ancients for edge-tools and warlike instruments, does +not preclude the supposition that iron was then comparatively +plentiful, though it is probable that it was confined to the ruder +arts of life. A knowledge of the mixture of copper, tin, and zinc, +seems to have been among the first discoveries of the metallurgist. +Instruments fabricated from these alloys, recommended by the use of +ages, the perfection of the art, the splendour and polish of their +surfaces, not easily injured by time and weather, would not soon be +superseded by the invention of simple iron, inferior in edge and +polish, at all times easily injured by rust, and in the early stages +of its manufacture converted with difficulty into forms that required +proportion or elegance."--(Papers on Iron and Steel, 365-6.) By some +secret method that has been lost, perhaps because no longer needed +since the invention of steel, the ancients manufactured bronze tools +capable of taking a fine edge. in our own time, Chantrey the +sculptor, in his reverence for classic metallurgy, had a bronze razor +made with which he martyred himself in shaving; but none were found +so hardy and devoted as to follow his example. + ...] +the latter metal continuing to be employed only for the purpose of +making scabbards or sword-handles. Shortly after the commencement of +the iron age, the lake-habitations were abandoned, the only +settlement of this later epoch yet discovered being that at Tene, on +Lake Neufchatel: and it is a remarkable circumstance, showing the +great antiquity of the lake-dwellings, that they are not mentioned by +any of the Roman historians. + +That iron should have been one of the last of the metals to come into +general use, is partly accounted for by the circumstance that iron, +though one of the most generally diffused of minerals, never presents +itself in a natural state, except in meteorites; and that to +recognise its ores, and then to separate the metal from its matrix, +demands the exercise of no small amount of observation and invention. +Persons unacquainted with minerals would be unable to discover the +slightest affinity between the rough ironstone as brought up from the +mine, and the iron or steel of commerce. To unpractised eyes they +would seem to possess no properties in common, and it is only after +subjecting the stone to severe processes of manufacture that usable +metal can be obtained from it. The effectual reduction of the ore +requires an intense heat, maintained by artificial methods, such as +furnaces and blowing apparatus.* + [footnote... +It may be mentioned in passing, that while Zinc is fusible at +3 degrees of Wedgwood's pyrometer, Silver at 22 degrees, Copper at +27 degrees, and Gold at 32 degrees, Cast Iron is only fusible at +130 degrees. Tin (one of the constituents of the ancient bronze) and +Lead are fusible at much lower degrees than zinc. + ...] +But it is principally in combination with other elements that iron is +so valuable when compared with other metals. Thus, when combined with +carbon, in varying proportions, substances are produced, so +different, but each so valuable, that they might almost be regarded +in the light of distinct metals,--such, for example, as cast-iron, +and cast and bar steel; the various qualities of iron enabling it to +be used for purposes so opposite as a steel pen and a railroad, the +needle of a mariner's compass and an Armstrong gun, a surgeon's +lancet and a steam engine, the mainspring of a watch and an iron +ship, a pair of scissors and a Nasmyth hammer, a lady's earrings and +a tubular bridge. + +The variety of purposes to which iron is thus capable of being +applied, renders it of more use to mankind than all the other metals +combined. Unlike iron, gold is found pure, and in an almost workable +state; and at an erly period in history, it seems to have been much +more plentiful than iron or steel. But gold was unsuited for the +purposes of tools, and would serve for neither a saw, a chisel, an +axe, nor a sword; whilst tempered steel could answer all these +purposes. Hence we find the early warlike nations making the backs of +their swords of gold or copper, and economizing their steel to form +the cutting edge. This is illustrated by many ancient Scandinavian +weapons in the museum at Copenhagen, which indicate the greatest +parsimony in the use of steel at a period when both gold and copper +appear to have been comparatively abundant. + +The knowledge of smelting and working in iron, like most other arts, +came from the East. Iron was especially valued for purposes of war, +of which indeed it was regarded as the symbol, being called "Mars" by +the Romans.* + [footnote... +The Romans named the other metals after the gods. Thus Quicksilver +was called Mercury, Lead Saturn, Tin Jupiter, Copper Venus, Silver +Luna, and so on; and our own language has received a colouring from +the Roman nomenclature, which it continues to retain. + ...] +We find frequent mention of it in the Bible. One of the earliest +notices of the metal is in connexion with the conquest of Judea by +the Philistines. To complete the subjection of the Israelites, their +conquerors made captive all the smiths of the land, and carried them +away. The Philistines felt that their hold of the country was +insecure so long as the inhabitants possessed the means of forging +weapons. Hence "there was no smith found throughout all the land of +Israel; for the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews make them swords +or spears. But the Israelites went down to the Philistines, to +sharpen every man his share, and his coulter, and his axe, and his +mattock."* + [footnote... +I. Samuel xiii. 19, 20. + ...] + +At a later period, when Jerusalem was taken by the Babylonians, one +of their first acts was to carry the smiths and other craftsmen +captives to Babylon.* + [footnote... +II. Kings xxiv. 16. + ...] +Deprived of their armourers, the Jews were rendered comparatively +powerless. + +It was the knowledge of the art of iron-forging which laid the +foundation of the once great empire of the Turks. Gibbon relates that +these people were originally the despised slaves of the powerful Khan +of the Geougen. They occupied certain districts of the mountain-ridge +in the centre of Asia, called Imaus, Caf, and Altai, which yielded +iron in large quantities. This metal the Turks were employed by the +Khan to forge for his use in war. A bold leader arose among them, who +persuaded the ironworkers that the arms which they forged for their +masters might in their own hands become the instruments of freedom. +Sallying forth from their mountains, they set up their standard, and +their weapons soon freed them. For centuries after, the Turkish +nation continued to celebrate the event of their liberation by an +annual ceremony, in which a piece of iron was heated in the fire, and +a smith's hammer was successively handled by the prince and his +nobles. + +We can only conjecture how the art of smelting iron was discovered. +Who first applied fire to the ore, and made it plastic; who +discovered fire itself, and its uses in metallurgy? No one can tell. +Tradition says that the metal was discovered through the accidental +burning of a wood in Greece. Mr. Mushet thinks it more probable that +the discovery was made on the conversion of wood into charcoal for +culinary or chamber purposes. "If a mass of ore," he says, +"accidentally dropped into the middle of the burning pile during a +period of neglect, or during the existence of a thorough draught, a +mixed mass, partly earthy and partly metallic, would be obtained, +possessing ductility and extension under pressure. But if the +conjecture is pushed still further, and we suppose that the ore was +not an oxide, but rich in iron, magnetic or spicular, the result +would in all probability be a mass of perfectly malleable iron. I +have seen this fact illustrated in the roasting of a species of +iron-stone, which was united with a considerable mass of bituminous +matter. After a high temperature had been excited in the interior of +the pile, plates of malleable iron of a tough and flexible nature +were formed, and under circumstances where there was no fuel but that +furnished by the ore itself."* + [footnote... +Papers on Iron and Steel, 363-4. + ...] + +The metal once discovered, many attempts would be made to give to +that which had been the effect of accident a more unerring result. +The smelting of ore in an open heap of wood or charcoal being found +tedious and wasteful, as well as uncertain, would naturally lead to +the invention of a furnace; with the object of keeping the ore +surrounded as much as possible with fuel while the process of +conversion into iron was going forward. The low conical furnaces +employed at this day by some of the tribes of Central and Southern +Africa, are perhaps very much the same in character as those adopted +by the early tribes of all countries where iron was first made. Small +openings at the lower end of the cone to admit the air, and a larger +orifice at the top, would, with charcoal, be sufficient to produce +the requisite degree of heat for the reduction of the ore. To this +the foot-blast was added, as still used in Ceylon and in India; and +afterwards the water-blast, as employed in Spain (where it is known +as the Catalan forge), along the coasts of the Mediterranean, and in +some parts of America. + +It is worthy of remark, that the ruder the method employed for the +reduction of the ore, the better the quality of the iron usually is. +Where the art is little advanced, only the most tractable ores are +selected; and as charcoal is the only fuel used, the quality of the +metal is almost invariably excellent. The ore being long exposed to +the charcoal fire, and the quantity made small, the result is a metal +having many of the qualities of steel, capable of being used for +weapons or tools after a comparatively small amount of forging. +Dr. Livingstone speaks of the excellent quality of the iron made by +the African tribes on the Zambesi, who refuse to use ordinary English +iron, which they consider "rotten."* + [footnote... +Dr. Livingstone brought with him to England a piece of the Zambesi +iron, which he sent to a skilled Birmingham blacksmith to test. +The result was, that he pronounced the metal as strongly resembling +Swedish or Russian; both of which kinds are smelted with charcoal. +The African iron was found "highly carbonized," and "when chilled it +possessed the properties of steel." + ...] +Du Chaillu also says of the Fans, that, in making their best knives +and arrow-heads, they will not use European or American iron, greatly +preferring their own. The celebrated wootz or steel of India, made in +little cakes of only about two pounds weight, possesses qualities +which no European steel can surpass. Out of this material the famous +Damascus sword-blades were made; and its use for so long a period is +perhaps one of the most striking proofs of the ancient civilization +of India. + +The early history of iron in Britain is necessarily very obscure. +When the Romans invaded the country, the metal seems to have been +already known to the tribes along the coast. The natives had probably +smelted it themselves in their rude bloomeries, or obtained it from +the Phoenicians in small quantities in exchange for skins and food, +or tin. We must, however, regard the stories told of the ancient +British chariots armed with swords or scythes as altogether +apocryphal. The existence of iron in sufficient quantity to be used +for such a purpose is incompatible with contemporary facts, and +unsupported by a single vestige remaining to our time. The country +was then mostly forest, and the roads did not as yet exist upon which +chariots could be used; whilst iron was too scarce to be mounted as +scythes upon chariots, when the warriors themselves wanted it for +swords. The orator Cicero, in a letter to Trebatius, then serving +with the army in Britain, sarcastically advised him to capture and +convey one of these vehicles to Italy for exhibition; but we do not +hear that any specimen of the British war-chariot was ever seen in +Rome. + +It is only in the tumuli along the coast, or in those of the +Romano-British period, that iron implements are ever found; whilst in +the ancient burying places of the interior of the country they are +altogether wanting. Herodian says of the British pursued by Severus +through the fens and marshes of the east coast, that they wore iron +hoops round their middles and their necks, esteeming them as +ornaments and tokens of riches, in like manner as other barbarous +people then esteemed ornaments of silver and gold. Their only money, +according to Caesar, consisted of pieces of brass or iron, reduced to +a certain standard weight.* + [footnote... +HOLINSHED, i. 517. Iron was also the currency of the Spartans, but it +has been used as such in much more recent times. Adam Smith, in his +Wealth of Nations (Book I. ch. 4, published in 1776), says, "there is +at this day a village in Scotland where it is not uncommon, I am +told, for a workman to carry nails, instead of money, to the baker's +shop or the alehouse." + ...] +It is particularly important to observe, says M. Worsaae, that all +the antiquities which have hitherto been found in the large burying +places of the Iron period, in Switzerland, Bavaria, Baden, France, +England, and the North, exhibit traces more or less of Roman +influence. + [footnote... +Primeval Antiquities of Denmark. London, 1849, p. 140. + ...] +The Romans themselves used weapons of bronze when they could not +obtain iron in sufficient quantity, and many of the Roman weapons dug +out of the ancient tumuli are of that metal. They possessed the art +of tempering and hardening bronze to such a degree as to enable them +to manufacture swords with it of a pretty good edge; and in those +countries which they penetrated, their bronze implements gradually +supplanted those which had been previously fashioned of stone. Great +quantities of bronze tools have been found in different parts of +England,--sometimes in heaps, as if they had been thrown away in +basketfuls as things of little value. It has been conjectured that +when the Romans came into Britain they found the inhabitants, +especially those to the northward, in very nearly the same state as +Captain Cook and other voyagers found the inhabitants of the South +Sea Islands; that the Britons parted with their food and valuables +for tools of inferior metal made in imitation of their stone ones; +but finding themselves cheated by the Romans, as the natives of +Otaheite have been cheated by Europeans, the Britons relinquished the +bad tools when they became acquainted with articles made of better +metal.* + [footnote... +See Dr. Pearson's paper in the Philosophical Transactions, 1796, +relative to certain ancient arms and utensils found in the river +Witham between Kirkstead and Lincoln. + ...] +The Roman colonists were the first makers of iron in Britain on any +large scale. They availed themselves of the mineral riches of the +country wherever they went. Every year brings their extraordinary +industrial activity more clearly to light. They not only occupied the +best sites for trade, intersected the land with a complete system of +well-constructed roads, studded our hills and valleys with towns, +villages, and pleasure-houses, and availed themselves of our +medicinal springs for purposes of baths to an extent not even +exceeded at this day, but they explored our mines and quarries, and +carried on the smelting and manufacture of metals in nearly all parts +of the island. The heaps of mining refuse left by them in the valleys +and along the hill-sides of North Derbyshire are still spoken of by +the country people as "old man," or the "old man's work." Year by +year, from Dartmoor to the Moray Firth, the plough turns up fresh +traces of their indefatigable industry and enterprise, in pigs of +lead, implements of iron and bronze, vessels of pottery, coins, and +sculpture; and it is a remarkable circumstance that in several +districts where the existence of extensive iron beds had not been +dreamt of until within the last twenty years, as in Northamptonshire +and North Yorkshire, the remains of ancient workings recently +discovered show that the Roman colonists were fully acquainted with +them. + +But the principal iron mines worked by that people were those which +were most conveniently situated for purposes of exportation, more +especially in the southern counties and on the borders of Wales. The +extensive cinder heaps found in the--Forest of De an--which formed +the readiest resource of the modern iron-smelter when improved +processes enabled him to reduce them--show that their principal iron +manufactures were carried on in that quarter* + [footnote... +"In the Forest of Dean and thereabouts the iron is made at this day +of cinders, being the rough and offal thrown by in the Roman time; +they then having only foot-blasts to melt the ironstone; but now, by +the force of a great wheel that drives a pair of Bellows twenty feet +long, all that iron is extracted out of the cinders which could not +be forced from it by the Roman foot-blast. And in the Forest of Dean +and thereabouts, and as high as Worcester, there ave great and +infinite quantities of these cinders; some in vast mounts above +ground, some under ground, which will supply the iron works some +hundreds of years; and these cinders ave they which make the prime +and best iron, and with much less charcoal than doth the +ironstone."--A. YARRANTON, England's Improvement by Sea and Land. +London, 1677. + ...] +It is indeed matter of history, that about seventeen hundred years +since (A.D. 120) the Romans had forges in the West of England, both +in the Forest of Dean and in South Wales; and that they sent the +metal from thence to Bristol, where it was forged and made into +weapons for the use of the troops. Along the banks of the Wye, the +ground is in many places a continuous bed of iron cinders, in which +numerous remains have been found, furnishing unmistakeable proofs of +the Roman furnaces. At the same time, the iron ores of Sussex were +extensively worked, as appears from the cinder heaps found at +Maresfield and several places in that county, intermixed with Roman +pottery, coins, and other remains. In a bed of scoriae several acres +in extent, at Old Land Farm in Maresfield, the Rev. Mr. Turner found +the remains of Roman pottery so numerous that scarcely a barrow-load +of cinders was removed that did not contain several fragments, +together with coins of the reigns of Nero, Vespasian, and +Dioclesian.* + [footnote... +M. A. LOWER, Contributions to Literature, Historical, Antiquarian, +and Metrical. London, 1854, pp. 88-9. + ...] +In the turbulent infancy of nations it is to be expected that we +should hear more of the Smith, or worker in iron, in connexion with +war, than with more peaceful pursuits. Although he was a nail-maker +and a horse-shoer--made axes, chisels, saws, and hammers for the +artificer -- spades and hoes for the farmer--bolts and fastenings for +the lord's castle-gates, and chains for his draw-bridge--it was +principally because of his skill in armour-work that he was esteemed. +He made and mended the weapons used in the chase and in war--the +gavelocs, bills, and battle-axes; he tipped the bowmen's arrows, and +furnished spear-heads for the men-at-arms; but, above all, he forged +the mail-coats and cuirasses of the chiefs, and welded their swords, +on the temper and quality of which, life, honour, and victory in +battle depended. Hence the great estimation in which the smith was +held in the Anglo-Saxon times. His person was protected by a double +penalty. He was treated as an officer of the highest rank, and +awarded the first place in precedency. After him ranked the maker of +mead, and then the physician. In the royal court of Wales he sat in +the great hall with the king and queen, next to the domestic +chaplain; and even at that early day there seems to have been a hot +spark in the smith's throat which needed much quenching; for he was +"entitled to a draught of every kind of liquor that was brought into +the hall." + +The smith was thus a mighty man. The Saxon Chronicle describes the +valiant knight himself as a "mighty war-smith." But the smith was +greatest of all in his forging of swords; and the bards were wont to +sing the praises of the knight's "good sword " and of the smith who +made it, as well as of the knight himself who wielded it in battle. +The most extraordinary powers were attributed to the weapon of steel +when first invented. Its sharpness seemed so marvellous when compared +with one of bronze, that with the vulgar nothing but magic could +account for it. Traditions, enshrined in fairy tales, still survive +in most countries, illustrative of its magical properties. The weapon +of bronze was dull; but that of steel was bright--the "white sword of +light," one touch of which broke spells, liberated enchanted +princesses, and froze giants' marrow. King Arthur's magic sword +"Excalibur" was regarded as almost heroic in the romance of +chivalry.* + [footnote... +This famous sword was afterwards sent by Richard I. as a present to +Tancred; and the value attached to the weapon may be estimated by the +fact that the Crusader sent the English monarch, in return for it, +"four great ships and fifteen galleys." + ...] +So were the swords "Galatin" of Sir Gawain, and "Joyeuse" of +Charlemague, both of which were reputed to be the work of Weland the +Smith, about whose name clusters so much traditional glory as an +ancient worker in metals.* + [footnote... +Weland was the Saxon Vulcan. The name of Weland's or Wayland's Smithy +is still given to a monument on Lambourn Downs in Wiltshire. The +place is also known as Wayland Smith's Cave. It consists of a rude +gallery of stones. + ...] +The heroes of the Northmen in like manner wielded magic swords. Olave +the Norwegian possessed the sword "Macabuin," forged by the dark +smith of Drontheim, whose feats are recorded in the tales of the +Scalds. And so, in like manner, traditions of the supernatural power +of the blacksmith are found existing to this day all over the +Scottish Highlands.* + [footnote... +Among the Scythians the iron sword was a god. It was the image of +Mars, and sacrifices were made to it. "An iron sword," says Mr. +Campbell, really was once worshipped by a people with whom iron was +rare. Iron is rare, while stone and bronze weapons are common, in +British tombs, and the sword of these stories is a personage. It +shines, it cries out -- the lives of men are bound up in it. And so +this mystic sword may, perhaps, have been a god amongst the Celts, or +the god of the people with whom the Celts contended somewhere on +their long journey to the west. It is a fiction now, but it may be +founded on fact, and that fact probably was the first use of iron." +To this day an old horse-shoe is considered a potent spell in some +districts against the powers of evil; and for want of a horse-shoe a +bit of a rusty reaping-hook is supposed to have equal power, "Who +were these powers of evil who could not resist iron--these fairies +who shoot STONE arrows, and are of the foes to the human race? Is all +this but a dim, hazy recollection of war between a people who had +iron weapons and a race who had not--the race whose remains are found +all over Europe? If these were wandering tribes, they had leaders; if +they were warlike, they had weapons. There is a smith in the Pantheon +of many nations. Vulcan was a smith; Thor wielded a hammer; even +Fionn had a hammer, which was heard in Lochlann when struck in +Eirinn. Fionn may have borrowed his hammer from Thor long ago, or +both may have got theirs from Vulcan, or all three may have brought +hammers with them from the land where some primeval smith wielded the +first sledge-hammer; but may not all these 'smith-gods be the smiths +who made iron weapons for those who fought with the skin-clad +warriors who shot flint-arrows, and who are now bogles, fairies , and +demons? In any case, tales about smiths seem to belong to mythology, +and to be common property."--CAMPBELL, Popular Tales of the West +Highlands, Preface, 74-6. + ...] +When William the Norman invaded Britain, he was well supplied with +smiths. His followers were clad in armour of steel, and furnished +with the best weapons of the time. Indeed, their superiority in this +respect is supposed to have been the principal cause of William's +victory over Harold; for the men of both armies were equal in point +of bravery. The Normans had not only smiths to attend to the arms of +the knights, but farriers to shoe their horses. Henry de Femariis, or +Ferrers, "prefectus fabrorum," was one of the principal officers +entrusted with the supervision of the Conqueror's ferriery +department; and long after the earldom was founded his descendants +continued to bear on their coat of arms the six horse-shoes +indicative of their origin.* + [footnote... +BROOK, Discovery of Errors in the Catalogue of the Nobility, 198. + ...] +William also gave the town of Northampton, with the hundred of +Fackley, as a fief to Simon St. Liz, in consideration of his +providing shoes for his horses.* + [footnote... +MEYRICK, i. 11. + ...] +But though the practice of horse-shoeing is said to have been +introduced to this country at the time of the Conquest, it is +probably of an earlier date; as, according to Dugdale, an old Saxon +tenant in capite of Welbeck in Nottinghamshire, named Gamelbere, held +two carucates of land by the service of shoeing the king's palfrey on +all four feet with the king's nails, as oft as the king should lie at +the neighbouring manor of Mansfield. + +Although we hear of the smith mostly in connexion with the +fabrication of instruments of war in the Middle Ages, his importance +was no less recognized in the ordinary affairs of rural and +industrial life. He was, as it were, the rivet that held society +together. Nothing could be done without him. Wherever tools or +implements were wanted for building, for trade, or for husbandry, his +skill was called into requisition. In remote places he was often the +sole mechanic of his district; and, besides being a tool-maker, a +farrier, and agricultural implement maker, he doctored cattle, drew +teeth, practised phlebotomy, and sometimes officiated as parish clerk +and general newsmonger; for the smithy was the very eye and tongue of +the village. Hence Shakespeare's picture of the smith in King John: + + "I saw a smith stand with his hammer, thus, + The whilst his iron did on the anvil cool, + With open mouth swallowing a tailor's news." + +The smith's tools were of many sorts; but the chief were his hammer, +pincers, chisel, tongs, and anvil. It is astonishing what a variety +of articles he turned out of his smithy by the help of these rude +implements. In the tooling, chasing, and consummate knowledge of the +capabilities of iron, he greatly surpassed the modern workman; for +the mediaeval blacksmith was an artist as well as a workman. The +numerous exquisite specimens of his handicraft which exist in our old +gateways, church doors, altar railings, and ornamented dogs and +andirons, still serve as types for continual reproduction. He was, +indeed, the most "cunninge workman" of his time. But besides all +this, he was an engineer. If a road had to be made, or a stream +embanked, or a trench dug, he was invariably called upon to provide +the tools, and often to direct the work. He was also the military +engineer of his day, and as late as the reign of Edward III. we find +the king repeatedly sending for smiths from the Forest of Dean to act +as engineers for the royal army at the siege of Berwick. + +The smith being thus the earliest and most important of mechanics, it +will readily be understood how, at the time when surnames were +adopted, his name should have been so common in all European +countries. + + "From whence came Smith, all be he knight or squire, + But from the smith that forgeth in the fire?"* + + [footnote... +GILBERT, Cornwall. + ...] + +Hence the multitudinous family of Smiths in England, in some cases +vainly disguised under the "Smythe" or "De Smijthe;" in Germany, the +Schmidts; in Italy, the Fabri, Fabricii,or Fabbroni; in France, the +Le Febres or Lefevres; in Scotland, the Gows, Gowans, or Cowans. +We have also among us the Brownsmiths, or makers of brown bills; the +Nasmyths, or nailsmiths; the Arrowsmiths, or makers of arrowheads; +the Spearsmiths, or spear makers; the Shoosmiths, or horse shoers; +the Goldsmiths, or workers in gold; and many more. The Smith proper +was, however, the worker in iron--the maker of iron tools, +implements, and arms--and hence this name exceeds in number that of +all the others combined. + +In course of time the smiths of particular districts began to +distinguish themselves for their excellence in particular branches of +iron-work. From being merely the retainer of some lordly or religious +establishment, the smith worked to supply the general demand, and +gradually became a manufacturer. Thus the makers of swords, tools, +bits, and nails, congregated at Birmingham; and the makers of knives +and arrowheads at Sheffield. Chaucer speaks of the Miller of +Trompington as provided with a Sheffield whittle: - + + "A Shefeld thwytel bare he in his hose."* + + [footnote... +Before table-knives were invented, in the sixteenth century, the +knife was a very important article; each guest at table bearing his +own, and sharpening it at the whetstone hung up in the passage, +before sitting down to dinner, Some even carried a whetstone as well +as a knife; and one of Queen Elizabeth's presents to the Earl of +Leicester was a whetstone tipped with gold. + ...] + +The common English arrowheads manufactured at Sheffield were long +celebrated for their excellent temper, as Sheffield iron and steel +plates are now. The battle of Hamildon, fought in Scotland in 1402, +was won mainly through their excellence. The historian records that +they penetrated the armour of the Earl of Douglas, which had been +three years in making; and they were "so sharp and strong that no +armour could repel them." The same arrowheads were found equally +efficient against French armour on the fields of Crecy and Agincourt. + +Although Scotland is now one of the principal sources from which our +supplies of iron are drawn, it was in ancient times greatly +distressed for want of the metal. The people were as yet too little +skilled to be able to turn their great mineral wealth to account. +Even in the time of Wallace, they had scarcely emerged from the Stone +period, and were under the necessity of resisting their iron-armed +English adversaries by means of rude weapons of that material. To +supply themselves with swords and spearheads, they imported steel +from Flanders, and the rest they obtained by marauding incursions +into England. The district of Furness in Lancashire--then as now an +iron-producing district--was frequently ravaged with that object; +and on such occasions the Scotch seized and carried off all the +manufactured iron they could find, preferring it, though so heavy, to +every other kind of plunder.* + [footnote... +The early scarcity of iron in Scotland is confirmed by Froissart, who +says,--"In Scotland you will never find a man of worth; they are like +savages, who wish not to be acquainted with any one, are envious of +the good fortune of others, and suspicious of losing anything +themselves; for their country is very poor. When the English make +inroads thither, as they have very frequently done, they order their +provisions, if they wish to live, to follow close at their backs; for +nothing is to be had in that country without great difficulty. There +is neither iron to shoe horses, nor leather to make harness, saddles, +or bridles: all these things come ready made from Flanders by sea; +and should these fail, there is none to be had in the country.' + ...] +About the same period, however, iron must have been regarded as +almost a precious metal even in England itself; for we find that in +Edward the Third's reign, the pots, spits, and frying-pans of the +royal kitchen were classed among his Majesty's jewels.* + [footnote... +PARKER'S English Home, 77 + ...] + +The same famine of iron prevailed to a still greater extent in the +Highlands, where it was even more valued, as the clans lived chiefly +by hunting, and were in an almost constant state of feud. Hence the +smith was a man of indispensable importance among the Highlanders, +and the possession of a skilful armourer was greatly valued by the +chiefs. The story is told of some delinquency having been committed +by a Highland smith, on whom justice must be done; but as the chief +could not dispense with the smith, he generously offered to hang two +weavers in his stead! + +At length a great armourer arose in the Highlands, who was able to +forge armour that would resist the best Sheffield arrow-heads, and to +make swords that would vie with the best weapons of Toledo and Milan. +This was the famous Andrea de Ferrara, whose swords still maintain +their ancient reputation. This workman is supposed to have learnt his +art in the Italian city after which he was called, and returned to +practise it in secrecy among the Highland hills. Before him, no man +in Great Britain is said to have known how to temper a sword in such +a way as to bend so that the point should touch the hilt and spring +back uninjured. The swords of Andrea de Ferrara did this, and were +accordingly in great request; for it was of every importance to the +warrior that his weapon should be strong and sharp without being +unwieldy, and that it should not be liable to snap in the act of +combat. This celebrated smith, whose personal identity* + [footnote... +The precise time at which Andrea de Ferrara flourished cannot be +fixed with accuracy; but Sir Waiter Scott, in one of the notes to +Waverley, says he is believed to have been a foreign artist brought +over by James IV. or V. of Scotland to instruct the Scots in the +manufacture of sword-blades. The genuine weapons have a crown marked +on the blades. + ...] +has become merged in the Andrea de Ferrara swords of his manufacture, +pursued his craft in the Highlands, where he employed a number of +skilled workmen in forging weapons, devoting his own time principally +to giving them their required temper. He is said to have worked in a +dark cellar, the better to enable him to perceive the effect of the +heat upon the metal, and to watch the nicety of the operation of +tempering, as well as possibly to serve as a screen to his secret +method of working.* + [footnote... +Mr. Parkes, in his Essay on the Manufacture of Edge Tools, says, "Had +this ingenious artist thought of a bath of oil, he might have heated +this by means of a furnace underneath it, and by the use of a +thermometer, to the exact point which he found necessary; though it +is inconvenient to have to employ a thermometer for every distinct +operation. Or, if he had been in the possession of a proper bath of +fusible metal, he would have attained the necessary certainty in his +process, and need not have immured himself in a subterranean +apartment.--PARKES' Essays, 1841, p. 495. + ...] +Long after Andrea de Ferrara's time, the Scotch swords were famous +for their temper; Judge Marshal Fatten, who accompanied the +Protector's expedition into Scotland in 1547, observing that "the +Scots came with swords all broad and thin, of exceeding good temper, +and universally so made to slice that I never saw none so good, so I +think it hard to devise a better." The quality of the steel used for +weapons of war was indeed of no less importance for the effectual +defence of a country then than it is now. The courage of the +attacking and defending forces being equal, the victory would +necessarily rest with the party in possession of the best weapons. + +England herself has on more than one occasion been supposed to be in +serious peril because of the decay of her iron manufactures. Before +the Spanish Armada, the production of iron had been greatly +discouraged because of the destruction of timber in the smelting of +the ore--the art of reducing it with pit coal not having yet been +invented; and we were consequently mainly dependent upon foreign +countries for our supplies of the material out of which arms were +made. The best iron came from Spain itself, then the most powerful +nation in Europe, and as celebrated for the excellence of its weapons +as for the discipline and valour of its troops. The Spaniards prided +themselves upon the superiority of their iron, and regarded its +scarcity in England as an important element in their calculations of +the conquest of the country by their famous Armada. "I have heard," +says Harrison, "that when one of the greatest peers of Spain espied +our nakedness in this behalf, and did solemnly utter in no obscure +place, that it would be an easy matter in short time to conquer +England because it wanted armour, his words were not so rashly +uttered as politely noted." The vigour of Queen Elizabeth promptly +supplied a remedy by the large importations of iron which she caused +to be made, principally from Sweden, as well as by the increased +activity of the forges in Sussex and the Forest of Dean; "whereby," +adds Harrison, "England obtained rest, that otherwise might have been +sure of sharp and cruel wars. Thus a Spanish word uttered by one man +at one time, overthrew, or at the leastwise hindered sundry privy +practices of many at another." * + [footnote... +HOLINSHED, History of England. It was even said to have been one of +the objects of the Spanish Armada to get the oaks of the Forest of +Dean destroyed, in order to prevent further smelting of the iron. +Thus Evelyn, in his Sylva, says, "I have heard that in the great +expedition of 1588 it was expressly enjoined the Spanish Armada that +if, when landed, they should not be able to subdue our nation and +make good their conquest, they should yet be sure not to leave a tree +standing in the Forest of Dean."--NICHOLS, History of the Forest of +Dean, p. 22. + ...] +Nor has the subject which occupied the earnest attention of +politicians in Queen Elizabeth's time ceased to be of interest; for, +after the lapse of nearly three hundred years, we find the smith and +the iron manufacturer still uppermost in public discussions. It has +of late years been felt that our much-prized "hearts of oak" are no +more able to stand against the prows of mail which were supposed to +threaten them, than the sticks and stones of the ancient tribes were +able to resist the men armed with weapons of bronze or steel. What +Solon said to Croesus, when the latter was displaying his great +treasures of gold, still holds true: -- "If another comes that hath +better iron than you, he will be master of all that gold." So, when +an alchemist waited upon the Duke of Brunswick during the Seven +Years' War, and offered to communicate the secret of converting iron +into gold, the Duke replied: -- "By no means: I want all the iron I +can find to resist my enemies: as for gold, I get it from England." +Thus the strength and wealth of nations depend upon coal and iron, +not forgetting Men, far more than upon gold. + +Thanks to our Armstrongs and Whitworths, our Browns and our Smiths, +the iron defences of England, manned by our soldiers and our sailors, +furnish the assurance of continued security for our gold and our +wealth, and, what is infinitely more precious, for our industry and +our liberty. + + +CHAPTER II. + +EARLY ENGLISH IRON MANUFACTURE. + +"He that well observes it, and hath known the welds of Sussex, Surry, +and Kent', the grand nursery especially of oake and beech, shal find +such an alteration, within lesse than 30 yeeres, as may well strike a +feare, lest few yeeres more, as pestilent as the former, will leave +fewe good trees standing in those welds. Such a heate issueth out of +the many forges and furnaces for the making of iron, and out of the +glasse kilnes, as hath devoured many famous woods within the +welds,"-- JOHN NORDEN, Surveyors' Dialogue (1607). + + +Few records exist of the manufacture of iron in England in early +times. After the Romans left the island, the British, or more +probably the Teutonic tribes settled along the south coast, continued +the smelting and manufacture of the metal after the methods taught +them by the colonists. In the midst of the insecurity, however, +engendered by civil war and social changes, the pursuits of industry +must necessarily have been considerably interfered with, and the art +of iron-forging became neglected. No notice of iron being made in +Sussex occurs in Domesday Book, from which it would appear that the +manufacture had in a great measure ceased in that county at the time +of the Conquest, though it was continued in the iron-producing +districts bordering on Wales. In many of the Anglo-Saxon graves which +have been opened, long iron swords have been found, showing that +weapons of that metal were in common use. But it is probable that +iron was still scarce, as ploughs and other agricultural implements +continued to be made of wood,--one of the Anglo-Saxon laws enacting +that no man should undertake to guide a plough who could not make +one; and that the cords with which it was bound should be of twisted +willows. The metal was held in esteem principally as the material of +war. All male adults were required to be provided with weapons, and +honour was awarded to such artificers as excelled in the fabrication +of swords, arms, and defensive armour.* + [footnote... +WILKINS, Leges Sax. 25. + ...] + +Camden incidentally states that the manufacture of iron was continued +in the western counties during the Saxon era, more particularly in +the Forest of Dean, and that in the time of Edward the Confessor the +tribute paid by the city of Gloucester consisted almost entirely of +iron rods wrought to a size fit for making nails for the king's +ships. An old religious writer speaks of the ironworkers of that day +as heathenish in their manners, puffed up with pride, and inflated +with worldly prosperity. On the occasion of St. Egwin's visit to the +smiths of Alcester, as we are told in the legend, he found then given +up to every kind of luxury; and when he proceeded to preach unto +them, they beat upon their anvils in contempt of his doctrine so as +completely to deafen him; upon which he addressed his prayers to +heaven, and the town was immediately destroyed.* + [footnote... +Life of St. Egwin, in Capgrave's Nova Legenda Anglioe. Alcester was, +as its name indicates, an old Roman settlement (situated on the +Icknild Street), where the art of working in iron was practised from +an early period. It was originally called Alauna, being situated on +the river Alne in Warwickshire. It is still a seat of the needle +manufacture. + ...] + +But the first reception given to John Wesley by the miners of the +Forest of Dean, more than a thousand years later, was perhaps +scarcely more gratifying than that given to St. Egwin. + +That working in iron was regarded as an honourable and useful calling +in the Middle Ages, is apparent from the extent to which it was +followed by the monks, some of whom were excellent craftsmen. Thus +St. Dunstan, who governed England in the time of Edwy the Fair, was a +skilled blacksmith and metallurgist. He is said to have had a forge +even in his bedroom, and it was there that his reputed encounter with +Satan occurred, in which of course the saint came off the victor. + +There was another monk of St. Alban's, called Anketil, who flourished +in the twelfth century, so famous for his skill as a worker in iron, +silver, gold, jewelry, and gilding, that he was invited by the king +of Denmark to be his goldsmith and banker. A pair of gold and silver +candlesticks of his manufacture, presented by the abbot of St. +Alban's to Pope Adrian IV., were so much esteemed for their exquisite +workmanship that they were consecrated to St. Peter, and were the +means of obtaining high ecclesiastical distinction for the abbey. + +We also find that the abbots of monasteries situated in the iron +districts, among their other labours, devoted themselves to the +manufacture of iron from the ore. The extensive beds of cinders still +found in the immediate neighbourhood of Rievaulx and Hackness, in +Yorkshire, show that the monks were well acquainted with the art of +forging, and early turned to account the riches of the Cleveland +ironstone. In the Forest of Dean also, the abbot of Flaxley was +possessed of one stationary and one itinerant forge, by grant from +Henry II, and he was allowed two oaks weekly for fuel,--a privilege +afterwards commuted, in 1258, for Abbot's Wood of 872 acres, which +was held by the abbey until its dissolution in the reign of Henry +VIII. At the same time the Earl of Warwick had forges at work in his +woods at Lydney; and in 1282, as many as 72 forges were leased from +the Crown by various iron-smelters in the same Forest of Dean. + +There are numerous indications of iron-smelting having been conducted +on a considerable scale at some remote period in the neighbourhood of +Leeds, in Yorkshire. In digging out the foundations of houses in +Briggate, the principal street of that town, many "bell pits" have +been brought to light, from which ironstone has been removed. The new +cemetery at Burmandtofts, in the same town, was in like manner found +pitted over with these ancient holes. The miner seems to have dug a +well about 6 feet in diameter, and so soon as he reached the mineral, +he worked it away all round, leaving the bell-shaped cavities in +question. He did not attempt any gallery excavations, but when the +pit was exhausted, a fresh one was sunk. The ore, when dug, was +transported, most probably on horses' backs, to the adjacent +districts for the convenience of fuel. For it was easier to carry the +mineral to the wood--then exclusively used for smelting'--than to +bring the wood to the mineral. Hence the numerous heaps of scoriae +found in the neighbourhood of Leeds,--at Middleton, Whitkirk, and +Horsforth--all within the borough. At Horsforth, they are found in +conglomerated masses from 30 to 40 yards long, and of considerable +width and depth. The remains of these cinder-beds in various +positions, some of them near the summit of the hill, tend to show, +that as the trees were consumed, a new wind furnace was erected in +another situation, in order to lessen the labour of carrying the +fuel. There are also deposits of a similar kind at Kirkby Overblow, a +village a few miles to the north-east of Leeds; and Thoresby states +that the place was so called because it was the village of the "Ore +blowers,"--hence the corruption of "Overblow." A discovery has +recently been made among the papers of the Wentworth family, of a +contract for supplying wood and ore for iron "blomes" at Kirskill +near Otley, in the fourteenth century;* + [footnote... +The following is an extract of this curious document, which is dated +the 26th Dec. 1352: "Ceste endenture fait entre monsire Richard de +Goldesburghe, chivaler,dune part, et Robert Totte, seignour, dautre +tesmoigne qe le dit monsire Richard ad graunte et lesse al dit Robert +deuz Olyveres contenaunz vynt quatre blomes de la feste seynt Piere +ad vincula lan du regne le Roi Edward tierce apres le conqueste vynt +sysme, en sun parke de Creskelde, rendant al dit monsire Richard +chesqune semayn quatorzse soutz dargent duraunt les deux Olyvers +avaunt dist; a tenir et avoir al avaunt dit Robert del avaunt dit +monsire Richard de la feste seynt Piere avaunt dist, taunque le bois +soit ars du dit parke a la volunte le dit monsire Richard saunz +interrupcione [e le dicte monsieur Richard trovera a dit Robert urre +suffisaunt pur lez ditz Olyvers pur le son donaunt: these words are +interlined]. Et fait a savoir qe le dit Robert ne nule de soens +coupard ne abatera nule manere darbre ne de boys put les deuz olyvers +avaunt ditz mes par la veu et la lyvere le dit monsire Richard , ou +par ascun autre par le dit monsire Richard assigne. En tesmoigaunz +(sic) de quenx choses a cestes presentes endentures les parties +enterchaungablement ount mys lour seals. Escript a Creskelde le +meskerdy en le semayn de Pasque lan avaunt diste." + +It is probable that the "blomes" referred to in this agreement were +the bloomeries or fires in which the iron was made; and that the +"olyveres" were forges or erections, each of which contained so many +bloomeries, but were of limited durability, and probably perished in +the using. + ...] +though the manufacture near that place has long since ceased. + +Although the making of iron was thus carried on in various parts of +England in the Middle Ages, the quantity produced was altogether +insufficient to meet the ordinary demand, as it appears from our +early records to have long continued one of the principal articles +imported from foreign countries. English iron was not only dearer, +but it was much inferior in quality to that manufactured abroad; and +hence all the best arms and tools continued to be made of foreign +iron. Indeed the scarcity of this metal occasionally led to great +inconvenience, and to prevent its rising in price Parliament enacted, +in 1354, that no iron, either wrought or unwrought, should be +exported, under heavy penalties. For nearly two hundred years--that +is, throughout the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries--the English +market was principally supplied with iron and steel from Spain and +Germany; the foreign merchants of the Steelyard doing a large and +profitable trade in those commodities. While the woollen and other +branches of trade were making considerable progress, the manufacture +of iron stood still. Among the lists of articles, the importation of +which was prohibited in Edward IV.'s reign, with a view to the +protection of domestic manufactures, we find no mention of iron, +which was still, as a matter of necessity, allowed to come freely +from abroad. + +The first indications of revival in the iron manufacture showed +themselves in Sussex, a district in which the Romans had established +extensive works, and where smelting operations were carried on to a +partial extent in the neighbourhood of Lewes, in the thirteenth and +fourteenth centuries, where the iron was principally made into nails +and horse-shoes. The county abounds in ironstone, which is contained +in the sandstone beds of the Forest ridge, lying between the chalk +and oolite of the district, called by geologists the Hastings sand. +The beds run in a north-westerly direction, by Ashburnham and +Heathfield, to Crowborough and thereabouts. In early times the region +was covered with wood, and was known as the Great Forest of Anderida. +The Weald, or wild wood, abounded in oaks of great size, suitable for +smelting ore; and the proximity of the mineral to the timber, as well +as the situation of the district in the neighbourhood of the capital, +sufficiently account for the Sussex iron-works being among the most +important which existed in England previous to the discovery of +smelting by pit-coal. + +The iron manufacturers of the south were especially busy during the +fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Their works were established near +to the beds of ore, and in places where water-power existed, or could +be provided by artificial means. Hence the numerous artificial ponds +which are still to be found all over the Sussex iron district. Dams +of earth, called "pond-bays," were thrown across watercourses, with +convenient outlets built of masonry, wherein was set the great wheel +which worked the hammer or blew the furnace. Portions of the +adjoining forest-land were granted or leased to the iron-smelters; +and the many places still known by the name of "Chart" in the Weald, +probably mark the lands chartered for the purpose of supplying the +iron-works with their necessary fuel. The cast-iron tombstones and +slabs in many Sussex churchyards,--the andirons and chimney backs* + [footnote... +The back of a grate has recently been found, cast by Richard Leonard +at Brede Furnace in 1636. It is curious as containing a +representation of the founder with his dog and cups; a drawing of the +furnace, with the wheelbarrow and other implements for the casting, +and on a shield the pincers and other marks of the blacksmith. +Leonard was tenant of the Sackville furnace at Little +Udimore.--Sussex Archaeological Collections, vol.xii. + ...] +still found in old Sussex mansions and farm-houses, and such names as +Furnace Place, Cinder Hill, Forge Farm, and Hammer Pond, which are of +very frequent occurrence throughout the county, clearly mark the +extent and activity of this ancient branch of industry.* + [footnote ... +For an interesting account of the early iron industry of Sussex see +M. A. LOWER'S Contributions to Literature, Historical, Antiquarian, +and Metrical. London, 1854. + ...] +Steel was also manufactured at several places in the county, more +particularly at Steel-Forge Land, Warbleton, and at Robertsbridge. +The steel was said to be of good quality, resembling Swedish--both +alike depending for their excellence on the exclusive use of charcoal +in smelting the ore,--iron so produced maintaining its superiority +over coal-smelted iron to this day. + +When cannon came to be employed in war, the nearness of Sussex to +London and the Cinque Forts gave it a great advantage over the +remoter iron-producing districts in the north and west of England, +and for a long time the iron-works of this county enjoyed almost a +monopoly of the manufacture. The metal was still too precious to be +used for cannon balls, which were hewn of stone from quarries on +Maidstone Heath. Iron was only available, and that in limited +quantities, for the fabrication of the cannon themselves, and +wrought-iron was chiefly used for the purpose. An old mortar which +formerly lay on Eridge Green, near Frant, is said to have been the +first mortar made in England;* + [footnote... +Archaeologia, vol. x. 472. + ...] +only the chamber was cast, while the tube consisted of bars +strongly hooped together. Although the local distich says that + + "Master Huggett and his man John + They did cast the first cannon," + +there is every reason to believe that both cannons and mortars were +made in Sussex before Huggett's time; the old hooped guns in the +Tower being of the date of Henry VI. The first cast-iron cannons of +English manufacture were made at Buxtead, in Sussex, in 1543, by +Ralph Hogge, master founder, who employed as his principal assistant +one Peter Baude, a Frenchman. Gun-founding was a French invention, +and Mr. Lower supposes that Hogge brought over Baude from France to +teach his workmen the method of casting the guns. About the same time +Hogge employed a skilled Flemish gunsmith named Peter Van Collet, +who, according to Stowe, "devised or caused to be made certain mortar +pieces, being at the mouth from eleven to nine inches wide, for the +use whereof the said Peter caused to be made certain hollow shot of +cast-iron to be stuffed with fyrework, whereof the bigger sort for +the same has screws of iron to receive a match to carry fyre for to +break in small pieces the said hollow shot, whereof the smallest +piece hitting a man would kill or spoil him." In short, Peter Van +Collet here introduced the manufacture of the explosive shell in the +form in which it continued to be used down to our own day. + +Baude, the Frenchman, afterwards set up business on his own account, +making many guns, both of brass and iron, some of which are still +preserved in the Tower.* + [footnote... +One of these, 6 1/2 feet long, and of 2 1/2 inches bore, manufactured +in 1543, bears the cast inscription of Petrus Baude Gallus operis +artifex. + ...] +Other workmen, learning the trade from him, also began to manufacture +on their own account; one of Baude's servants, named John Johnson, +and after him his son Thomas, becoming famous for the excellence of +their cast-iron guns. The Hogges continued the business for several +generations, and became a wealthy county family. Huggett was another +cannon maker of repute; and Owen became celebrated for his brass +culverins. Mr. Lower mentions, as a curious instance of the tenacity +with which families continue to follow a particular vocation, that +many persons of the name of Huggett still carry on the trade of +blacksmith in East Sussex. But most of the early workmen at the +Sussex iron-works, as in other branches of skilled industry in +England during the sixteenth century, were foreigners-- Flemish and +French--many of whom had taken refuge in this country from the +religious persecutions then raging abroad, while others, of special +skill, were invited over by the iron manufacturers to instruct their +workmen in the art of metal-founding.* + [footnote... +Mr. Lower says," Many foreigners were brought over to carry on the +works; which perhaps may account for the number of Frenchmen and +Germans whose names appear in our parish registers about the middle of +the sixteenth century ."-- Contributions to Literature, 108. + ...] + +As much wealth was gained by the pursuit of the revived iron +manufacture in Sussex, iron-mills rapidly extended over the +ore-yielding district. The landed proprietors entered with zeal into +this new branch of industry, and when wood ran short, they did not +hesitate to sacrifice their ancestral oaks to provide fuel for the +furnaces. Mr. Lower says even the most ancient families, such as the +Nevilles, Howards, Percys, Stanleys, Montagues, Pelhams, Ashburnhams, +Sidneys, Sackvilles, Dacres, and Finches, prosecuted the manufacture +with all the apparent ardour of Birmingham and Wolverhampton men in +modern times. William Penn, the courtier Quaker, had iron-furnaces at +Hawkhurst and other places in Sussex. The ruins of the Ashburnham +forge, situated a few miles to the north-east of Battle, still serve +to indicate the extent of the manufacture. At the upper part of the +valley in which the works were situated, an artificial lake was +formed by constructing an embankment across the watercourse +descending from the higher ground,* + [footnote ... +The embankment and sluices of the furnace-pond at the upper part of +the valley continue to be maintained, the lake being used by the +present Lord Ashburnham as a preserve for fish and water-fowl. + ...] +and thus a sufficient fall of water was procured for the purpose of +blowing the furnaces, the site of which is still marked by +surrounding mounds of iron cinders and charcoal waste. Three quarters +of a mile lower down the valley stood the forge, also provided with +water-power for working the hammer; and some of the old buildings are +still standing, among others the boring-house, of small size, now +used as an ordinary labourer's cottage, where the guns were bored. +The machine was a mere upright drill worked by the water-wheel, which +was only eighteen inches across the breast. The property belonged, as +it still does, to the Ashburnham family, who are said to have derived +great wealth from the manufacture of guns at their works, which were +among the last carried on in Sussex. The Ashburnham iron was +distinguished for its toughness, and was said to be equal to the best +Spanish or Swedish iron. + +Many new men also became enriched, and founded county families; the +Fuller family frankly avowing their origin in the singular motto of +Carbone et forcipibus--literally, by charcoal and tongs.* + [footnote... +Reminding one of the odd motto assumed by Gillespie, the tobacconist +of Edinburgh, founder of Gillespie's Hospital, on whose +carriage-panels was emblazoned a Scotch mull, with the motto, + + "Wha wad ha' thocht it, + That noses could ha' bought it!" + +It is just possible that the Fullers may have taken their motto from +the words employed by Juvenal in describing the father of Demosthenes, +who was a blacksmith and a sword-cutler -- + + "Quem pater ardentis massae fuligine lippus, + A carbone et forcipibus gladiosque parante + Incude et luteo Vulcano ad rhetora misit." + + ...] + +Men then went into Sussex to push their fortunes at the forges, as +they now do in Wales or Staffordshire; and they succeeded then, as +they do now, by dint of application, industry, and energy. The Sussex +Archaeological Papers for 1860 contain a curious record of such an +adventurer, in the history of the founder of the Gale family. Leonard +Gale was born in 1620 at Riverhead, near Sevenoaks, where his father +pursued the trade of a blacksmith. When the youth had reached his +seventeenth year, his father and mother, with five of their sons and +daughters, died of the plague, Leonard and his brother being the only +members of the family that survived. The patrimony of 200L. left them +was soon spent; after which Leonard paid off his servants, and took +to work diligently at his father's trade. Saving a little money, he +determined to go down into Sussex, where we shortly find him working +the St. Leonard's Forge, and afterwards the Tensley Forge near +Crawley, and the Cowden Iron-works, which then bore a high +reputation. After forty years' labour, he accumulated a good fortune, +which he left to his son of the same name, who went on iron-forging, +and eventually became a county gentleman, owner of the house and +estate of Crabbett near Worth, and Member of Parliament for East +Grinstead. + +Several of the new families, however, after occupying a high position +in the county, again subsided into the labouring class, illustrating +the Lancashire proverb of "Twice clogs, once boots," the sons +squandering what the father's had gathered, and falling back into the +ranks again. Thus the great Fowles family of Riverhall disappeared +altogether from Sussex. One of them built the fine mansion of +Riverhall, noble even in decay. Another had a grant of free warren +from King James over his estates in Wadhurst, Frant, Rotherfield, and +Mayfield. Mr. Lower says the fourth in descent from this person kept +the turnpike-gate at Wadhurst, and that the last of the family, a +day-labourer, emigrated to America in 1839, carrying with him, as the +sole relic of his family greatness, the royal grant of free warren +given to his ancestor. The Barhams and Mansers were also great +iron-men, officiating as high sheriffs of the county at different +times, and occupying spacious mansions. One branch of these families +terminated, Mr. Lower says, with Nicholas Barham, who died in the +workhouse at Wadhurst in 1788; and another continues to be +represented by a wheelwright at Wadhurst of the same name. + +The iron manufacture of Sussex reached its height towards the close +of the reign of Elizabeth, when the trade became so prosperous that, +instead of importing iron, England began to export it in considerable +quantities, in the shape of iron ordnance. Sir Thomas Leighton and +Sir Henry Neville had obtained patents from the queen, which enabled +them to send their ordnance abroad, the conseqnence of which was that +the Spaniards were found arming their ships and fighting us with guns +of our own manufacture. Sir Walter Raleigh, calling attention to the +subject in the House of Commons, said, "I am sure heretofore one ship +of Her Majesty's was able to beat ten Spaniards, but now, by reason +of our own ordnance, we are hardly matcht one to one." Proclamations +were issued forbidding the export of iron and brass ordnance, and a +bill was brought into Parliament to put a stop to the trade; but, not +withstanding these prohibitions, the Sussex guns long continued to be +smuggled out of the country in considerable numbers. "It is almost +incredible," says Camden, "how many guns are made of the iron in this +county. Count Gondomar (the Spanish ambassador) well knew their +goodness when he so often begged of King James the boon to export +them." Though the king refused his sanction, it appears that Sir +Anthony Shirley of Weston, an extensive iron-master, succeeded in +forwarding to the King of Spain a hundred pieces of cannon. + +So active were the Sussex manufacturers, and so brisk was the trade +they carried on, that during the reign of James I. it is supposed +one-half of the whole quantity of iron produced in England was made +there. Simon Sturtevant, in his 'Treatise of Metallica,' published in +1612, estimates the whole number of iron-mills in England and Wales +at 800, of which, he says, "there are foure hundred milnes in Surry, +Kent, and Sussex, as the townsmen of Haslemere have testified and +numbered unto me. But the townsmen of Haslemere must certainly have +been exaggerating, unless they counted smiths' and farriers' shops in +the number of iron-mills. About the same time that Sturtevant's +treatise was published, there appeared a treatise entitled the +'Surveyor's Dialogue,' by one John Norden, the object of which was to +make out a case against the iron-works and their being allowed to +burn up the timber of the country for fuel. Yet Norden does not make +the number of iron-works much more than a third of Sturtevant's +estimate. He says, "I have heard that there are or lately were in +Sussex neere 140 hammers and furnaces for iron, and in it and Surrey +adjoining three or four glasse-houses." Even the smaller number +stated by Norden, however, shows that Sussex was then regarded as the +principal seat of the iron-trade. Camden vividly describes the noise +and bustle of the manufacture--the working of the heavy hammers, +which, "beating upon the iron, fill the neighbourhood round about, +day and night, with continual noise." These hammers were for the most +part worked by the power of water, carefully stored in the artificial +"Hammer-ponds" above described. The hammer-shaft was usually of ash, +about 9 feet long, clamped at intervals with iron hoops. It was +worked by the revolutions of the water-wheel, furnished with +projecting arms or knobs to raise the hammer, which fell as each knob +passed, the rapidity of its action of course depending on the +velocity with which the water-wheel revolved. The forge-blast was +also worked for the most part by water-power. Where the furnaces were +small, the blast was produced by leather bellows worked by hand, or +by a horse walking in a gin. The foot-blasts of the earlier +iron-smelters were so imperfect that but a small proportion of the +ore was reduced, so that the iron-makers of later times, more +particularly in the Forest of Dean, instead of digging for ironstone, +resorted to the beds of ancient scoriae for their principal supply of +the mineral. + +Notwithstanding the large number of furnaces in blast throughout the +county of Sussex at the period we refer to, their produce was +comparatively small, and must not be measured by the enormous produce +of modern iron-works; for while an iron-furnace of the present day +will easily turn out 150 tons of pig per week, the best of the older +furnaces did not produce more than from three to four tons. One of +the last extensive contracts executed in Sussex was the casting of +the iron rails which enclose St. Paul's Cathedral. The contract was +thought too large for one iron-master to undertake, and it was +consequently distributed amongst several contractors, though the +principal part of the work was executed at Lamberhurst, near +Tunbridge Wells. But to produce the comparatively small quantity of +iron turned out by the old works, the consumption of timber was +enormous; for the making of every ton of pig-iron required four loads +of timber converted into charcoal fuel, and the making of every ton +of bar-iron required three additional loads. Thus, notwithstanding +the indispensable need of iron, the extension of the manufacture, by +threatening the destruction of the timber of the southern counties, +came to be regarded in the light of a national calamity. Up to a +certain point, the clearing of the Weald of its dense growth of +underwood had been of advantage, by affording better opportunities +for the operations of agriculture. But the "voragious iron-mills" +were proceeding to swallow up everything that would burn, and the old +forest growths were rapidly disappearing. An entire wood was soon +exhausted, and long time was needed before it grew again. At +Lamberhurst alone, though the produce was only about five tons of +iron a-week, the annual consumption of wood was about 200,000 cords! +Wood continued to be the only material used for fuel generally--a +strong prejudice existing against the use of sea-coal for domestic +purposes.* + [footnote... +It was then believed that sea or pit-coal was poisonous when burnt in +dwellings, and that it was especially injurious to the human +complexion. All sorts of diseases were attributed to its use, and at +one time it was even penal to burn it. The Londoners only began to +reconcile themselves to the use of coal when the wood within reach of +the metropolis had been nearly all burnt up, and no other fuel was to +be had. + ...] +It therefore began to be feared that there would be no available fuel +left within practicable reach of the metropolis; and the contingency +of having to face the rigorous cold of an English winter without fuel +naturally occasioning much alarm, the action of the Government was +deemed necessary to remedy the apprehended evil. + +To check the destruction of wood near London, an Act was passed in +1581 prohibiting its conversion into fuel for the making of iron +within fourteen miles of the Thames, forbidding the erection of new +ironworks within twenty-two miles of London, and restricting the +number of works in Kent, Surrey, and Sussex, beyond the above limits. +Similar enactments were made in future Parliaments with the same +object, which had the effect of checking the trade, and several of +the Sussex ironmasters were under the necessity of removing their +works elsewhere. Some of them migrated to Glamorganshire, in South +Wales, because of the abundance of timber as well as ironstone in +that quarter, and there set up their forges, more particularly at +Aberdare and Merthyr Tydvil. Mr. Llewellin has recently published an +interesting account of their proceedings, with descriptions of their +works,* + [footnote ... +Archaeologia Cambrensis, 3rd Series, No. 34, April, 1863. Art. +"Sussex Ironmasters in Glamorganshire." + ...] +remains of which still exist at Llwydcoed, Pontyryns, and other +places in the Aberdare valley. Among the Sussex masters who settled +in Glamorganshire for the purpose of carrying on the iron +manufacture, were Walter Burrell, the friend of John Ray, the +naturalist, one of the Morleys of Glynde in Sussex, the Relfes from +Mayfield, and the Cheneys from Crawley. + +Notwithstanding these migrations of enterprising manufacturers, the +iron trade of Sussex continued to exist until the middle of the +seventeenth century, when the waste of timber was again urged upon +the attention of Parliament, and the penalties for infringing the +statutes seem to have been more rigorously enforced. The trade then +suffered a more serious check; and during the civil wars, a heavy +blow was given to it by the destruction of the works belonging to all +royalists, which was accomplished by a division of the army under Sir +William Waller. Most of the Welsh ironworks were razed to the ground +about the same time, and were not again rebuilt. And after the +Restoration, in 1674, all the royal ironworks in the Forest of Dean +were demolished, leaving only such to be supplied with ore as were +beyond the forest limits; the reason alleged for this measure being +lest the iron manufacture should endanger the supply of timber +required for shipbuilding and other necessary purposes. + +From this time the iron manufacture of Sussex, as of England +generally, rapidly declined. In 1740 there were only fifty-nine +furnaces in all England, of which ten were in Sussex; and in 1788 +there were only two. A few years later, and the Sussex iron furnaces +were blown out altogether. Farnhurst, in western, and Ashburnham, in +eastern Sussex, witnessed the total extinction of the manufacture. +The din of the iron hammer was hushed, the glare of the furnace +faded, the last blast of the bellows was blown, and the district +returned to its original rural solitude. Some of the furnace-ponds +were drained and planted with hops or willows; others formed +beautiful lakes in retired pleasure-grounds; while the remainder were +used to drive flour-mills, as the streams in North Kent, instead of +driving fulling-mills, were employed to work paper-mills. All that +now remains of the old iron-works are the extensive beds of cinders +from which material is occasionally taken to mend the Sussex roads, +and the numerous furnace-ponds, hammer-posts, forges, and cinder +places, which mark the seats of the ancient manufacture. + + +CHAPTER III. + +IRON-SMELTING BY PIT-COAL--DUD DUDLEY. + +"God of his Infinite goodness (if we will but take notice of his +goodness unto this Nation) hath made this Country a very Granary for +the supplying of Smiths with Iron, Cole, and Lime made with cole, +which hath much supplied these men with Corn also of late; and from +these men a great part, not only of this Island, but also of his +Majestie's other Kingdoms and Territories, with Iron wares have their +supply, and Wood in these parts almost exhausted, although it were of +late a mighty woodland country."--DUDLEY's Metallum Martis, 1665. + + +The severe restrictions enforced by the legislature against the use +of wood in iron-smelting had the effect of almost extinguishing the +manufacture. New furnaces ceased to be erected, and many of the old +ones were allowed to fall into decay, until it began to be feared +that this important branch of industry would become completely lost. +The same restrictions alike affected the operations of the glass +manufacture, which, with the aid of foreign artisans, had been +gradually established in England, and was becoming a thriving branch +of trade. It was even proposed that the smelting of iron should be +absolutely prohibited: "many think," said a contemporary writer, +"that there should be NO WORKS ANYWHERE--they do so devour the +woods." + +The use of iron, however, could not be dispensed with. The very +foundations of society rested upon an abundant supply of it, for +tools and implements of peace, as well as for weapons of war. In the +dearth of the article at home, a supply of it was therefore sought +for abroad; and both iron and steel came to be imported in +largely-increased quantities. This branch of trade was principally in +the hands of the Steelyard Company of Foreign Merchants, established +in Upper Thames Street, a little above London Bridge; and they +imported large quantities of iron and steel from foreign countries, +principally from Sweden, Germany, and Spain. The best iron came from +Spain, though the Spaniards on their part coveted our English made +cannons, which were better manufactured than theirs; while the best +steel came from Germany and Sweden.* + [footnote... +As late as 1790, long after the monopoly of the foreign merchants had +been abolished, Pennant says, "The present Steelyard is the great +repository of imported iron, which furnishes our metropolis with that +necessary material. The quantity of bars that fills the yards and +warehouses of this quarter strikes with astonishment the most +indifferent beholder."--PENNANT, Account of London, 309. + ...] + +Under these circumstances, it was natural that persons interested in +the English iron manufacture should turn their attention to some +other description of fuel which should serve as a substitute for the +prohibited article. There was known to be an abundance of coal in the +northern and midland counties, and it occurred to some speculators +more than usually daring, to propose it as a substitute for the +charcoal fuel made from wood. But the same popular prejudice which +existed against the use of coal for domestic purposes, prevented its +being employed for purposes of manufacture; and they were thought +very foolish persons indeed who first promulgated the idea of +smelting iron by means of pit-coal. The old manufacturers held it to +be impossible to reduce the ore in any other way than by means of +charcoal of wood. It was only when the wood in the neighbourhood of +the ironworks had been almost entirely burnt up, that the +manufacturers were driven to entertain the idea of using coal as a +substitute; but more than a hundred years passed before the practice +of smelting iron by its means became general. + +The first who took out a patent for the purpose was one Simon +Sturtevant, a German skilled in mining operations; the professed +object of his invention being "to neale, melt, and worke all kind of +metal oares, irons, and steeles with sea-coale, pit-coale, +earth-coale, and brush fewell." The principal end of his invention, +he states in his Treatise of Metallica,* + [footnote... +STURTEVANT'S Metallica; briefly comprehending the Doctrine of Diverse +New Metallical Inventions, &c. Reprinted and published at the Great +Seal Patent Office, 1858. + ...] +is to save the consumption and waste of the woods and timber of the +country; and, should his design succeed, he holds that it "will prove +to be the best and most profitable business and invention that ever +was known or invented in England these many yeares." He says he has +already made trial of the process on a small scale, and is confident +that it will prove equally successful on a large one. Sturtevant was +not very specific as to his process; but it incidentally appears to +have been his purpose to reduce the coal by an imperfect combustion +to the condition of coke, thereby ridding it of "those malignant +proprieties which are averse to the nature of metallique substances." +The subject was treated by him, as was customary in those days, as a +great mystery, made still more mysterious by the multitude of learned +words under which he undertook to describe his "Ignick Invention" All +the operations of industry were then treated as secrets. Each trade +was a craft, and those who followed it were called craftsmen. Even +the common carpenter was a handicraftsman; and skilled artisans were +"cunning men." But the higher branches of work were mysteries, the +communication of which to others was carefully guarded by the +regulations of the trades guilds. Although the early patents are +called specifications, they in reality specify nothing. They are for +the most part but a mere haze of words, from which very little +definite information can be gleaned as to the processes patented. It +may be that Sturtevant had not yet reduced his idea to any +practicable method, and therefore could not definitely explain it. +However that may be, it is certain that his process failed when tried +on a large scale, and Sturtevant's patent was accordingly cancelled +at the end of a year. + + +The idea, however, had been fairly born, and repeated patents were +taken out with the same object from time to time. Thus, immediately +on Sturtevant's failure becoming known, one John Rovenzon, who had +been mixed up with the other's adventure, applied for a patent for +making iron by the same process, which was granted him in 1613. His +'Treatise of Metallica'* + [footnote... +Reprinted and published at the Great Seal Patent Office, 1858. + ...] +shows that Rovenzon had a true conception of the method of +manufacture. Nevertheless he, too, failed in carrying out the +invention in practice, and his patent was also cancelled. Though +these failures were very discouraging, like experiments continued to +be made and patents taken out,--principally by Dutchmen and Germans,* + [footnote... +Among the early patentees, besides the names of Sturtevant and +Rovenzon, we find those of Jordens, Francke, Sir Phillibert Vernatt, +and other foreigners of the above nations. + ...] +--but no decided success seems to have attended their efforts until +the year 1620, when Lord Dudley took out his patent "for melting iron +ore, making bar-iron, &c., with coal, in furnaces, with bellows." +This patent was taken out at the instance of his son Dud Dudley, +whose story we gather partly from his treatise entitled 'Metallum +Martis,' and partly from various petitions presented by him to the +king, which are preserved in the State Paper Office, and it runs as +follows: -- + +Dud Dudley was born in 1599, the natural son of Edward Lord Dudley of +Dudley Castle in the county of Worcester. He was the fourth of eleven +children by the same mother, who is described in the pedigree of the +family given in the Herald's visitation of the county of Stafford in +the year 1663, signed by Dud Dudley himself, as "Elizabeth, daughter +of William Tomlinson of Dudley, concubine of Edward Lord Dudley." +Dud's eldest brother is described in the same pedigree as Robert +Dudley, Squire, of Netherton Hall; and as his sisters mostly married +well, several of them county gentlemen, it is obvious that the +family, notwithstanding that the children were born out of wedlock, +held a good position in their neighbourhood, and were regarded with +respect. Lord Dudley, though married and having legitimate heirs at +the time, seems to have attended to the up-bringing of his natural +children; educating them carefully, and afterwards employing them in +confidential offices connected with the management of his extensive +property. Dud describes himself as taking great delight, when a +youth, in his father's iron-works near Dudley, where he obtained +considerable knowledge of the various processes of the manufacture. + +The town of Dudley was already a centre of the iron manufacture, +though chiefly of small wares, such as nails, horse-shoes, keys, +locks, and common agricultural tools; and it was estimated that there +were about 20,000 smiths and workers in iron of various kinds living +within a circuit of ten miles of Dudley Castle. But, as in the +southern counties, the production of iron had suffered great +diminution from the want of fuel in the district, "though formerly a +mighty woodland country; and many important branches of the local +trade were brought almost to a stand-still. Yet there was an +extraordinary abundance of coal to be met with in the +neighbourhood--coal in some places lying in seams ten feet +thick--ironstone four feet thick immediately under the coal, with +limestone conveniently adjacent to both. The conjunction seemed +almost providential--"as if." observes Dud, "God had decreed the time +when and how these smiths should be supplied, and this island also, +with iron, and most especially that this cole and ironstone should +give the first and just occasion for the invention of smelting iron +with pit-cole;" though, as we have already seen, all attempts +heretofore made with that object had practically failed. + +Dud was a special favourite of the Earl his father, who encouraged +his speculations with reference to the improvement of the iron +manufacture, and gave him an education calculated to enable him to +turn his excellent practical abilities to account. He was studying at +Baliol College, Oxford, in the year 1619, when the Earl sent for him +to take charge of an iron furnace and two forges in the chase of +Pensnet in Worcestershire. He was no sooner installed manager of the +works, than, feeling hampered by the want of wood for fuel, his +attention was directed to the employment of pit-coal as a substitute. +He altered his furnace accordingly, so as to adapt it to the new +process, and the result of the first trial was such as to induce him +to persevere. It is nowhere stated in Dud Dudley's Treatise what was +the precise nature of the method adopted by him; but it is most +probable that, in endeavouring to substitute coal for wood as fuel, +he would subject the coal to a process similar to that of +charcoal-burning. The result would be what is called Coke; and as +Dudley informs us that he followed up his first experiment with a +second blast, by means of which he was enabled to produce good +marketable iron, the presumption is that his success was also due to +an improvement of the blast which he contrived for the purpose of +keeping up the active combustion of the fuel. Though the quantity +produced by the new process was comparatively small--not more than +three tons a week from each furnace--Dudley anticipated that greater +experience would enable him to increase the quantity; and at all +events he had succeeded in proving the practicability of smelting +iron with fuel made from pit-coal, which so many before him had tried +in vain. + +Immediately after the second trial had been made with such good +issue, Dud wrote to his father the Earl, then in London, informing +him what he had done, and desiring him at once to obtain a patent for +the invention from King James. This was readily granted, and the +patent (No. 18), dated the 22nd February, 1620, was taken out in the +name of Lord Dudley himself. + +Dud proceeded with the manufacture of iron at Pensnet, and also at +Cradley in Staffordshire, where he erected another furnace; and a +year after the patent was granted he was enabled to send up to the +Tower, by the King's command, a considerable quantity of the new iron +for trial. Many experiments were made with it: its qualities were +fairly tested, and it was pronounced "good merchantable iron." Dud +adds, in his Treatise, that his brother-in-law, Richard Parkshouse, +of Sedgeley,* + [footnote... +Mr. Parkshouse was one of the esquires to Sir Ferdinando Dudley (the +legitimate son of the Earl of Dudley) When he was made Knight of the +Bath. Sir Ferdinando's only daughter Frances married Humble Ward, son +and heir of William Ward, goldsmith and jeweller to Charles the +First's queen. Her husband having been created a baron by the title +of Baron Ward of Birmingham, and Frances becoming Baroness of Dudley +in her own right on the demise of her father, the baronies of Dudley +and Ward thus became united in their eldest son Edward in the year +1697. + ...] +"had a fowling-gun there made of the Pit-cole iron," which was "well +approved." There was therefore every prospect of the new method of +manufacture becoming fairly established, and with greater experience +further improvements might with confidence be anticipated, when a +succession of calamities occurred to the inventor which involved him +in difficulties and put an effectual stop to the progress of his +enterprise. + +The new works had been in successful operation little more than a +year, when a flood, long after known as the "Great May-day Flood," +swept away Dudley's principal works at Cradley, and otherwise +inflicted much damage throughout the district. "At the market town +called Stourbridge," says Dud, in the course of his curious +narrative, "although the author sent with speed to preserve the +people from drowning, and one resolute man was carried from the +bridge there in the day-time, the nether part of the town was so deep +in water that the people had much ado to preserve their lives in the +uppermost rooms of their houses." Dudley himself received very little +sympathy for his losses. On the contrary, the iron-smelters of the +district rejoiced exceedingly at the destruction of his works by the +flood. They had seen him making good iron by his new patent process, +and selling it cheaper than they could afford to do. They accordingly +put in circulation all manner of disparaging reports about his iron. +It was bad iron, not fit to be used; indeed no iron, except what was +smelted with charcoal of wood, could be good. To smelt it with coal +was a dangerous innovation, and could only result in some great +public calamity. The ironmasters even appealed to King James to put a +stop to Dud's manufacture, alleging that his iron was not +merchantable. And then came the great flood, which swept away his +works; the hostile ironmasters now hoping that there was an end for +ever of Dudley's pit-coal iron. + +But Dud, with his wonted energy, forthwith set to work and repaired +his furnaces and forges, though at great cost; and in the course of a +short time the new manufacture was again in full progress. The +ironmasters raised a fresh outcry against him, and addressed another +strong memorial against Dud and his iron to King James. This seems to +have taken effect; and in order to ascertain the quality of the +article by testing it upon a large scale, the King commanded Dudley +to send up to the Tower of London, with every possible speed, +quantities of all the sorts of bar-iron made by him, fit for the +"making of muskets, carbines, and iron for great bolts for shipping; +which iron," continues Dud, "being so tried by artists and smiths, +the ironmasters and iron-mongers were all silenced until the 21st +year of King James's reign." The ironmasters then endeavoured to get +the Dudley patent included in the monopolies to be abolished by the +statute of that year; but all they could accomplish was the +limitation of the patent to fourteen years instead of thirty-one; the +special exemption of the patent from the operation of the statute +affording a sufficient indication of the importance already attached +to the invention. After that time Dudley "went on with his invention +cheerfully, and made annually great store of iron, good and +merchantable, and sold it unto diverse men at twelve pounds per ton." +"I also," said he, "made all sorts of cast-iron wares, as brewing +cisterns, pots, mortars, &c., better and cheaper than any yet made in +these nations with charcoal, some of which are yet to be seen by any +man (at the author's house in the city of Worcester) that desires to +be satisfied of the truth of the invention." + +Notwithstanding this decided success, Dudley encountered nothing but +trouble and misfortune. The ironmasters combined to resist his +invention; they fastened lawsuit's upon him, and succeeded in getting +him ousted from his works at Cradley. From thence he removed to +Himley in the county of Stafford, where he set up a pit-coal furnace; +but being without the means of forging the iron into bars, he was +constrained to sell the pig-iron to the charcoal-ironmasters, "who +did him much prejudice, not only by detaining his stock, but also by +disparaging his iron." He next proceeded to erect a large new furnace +at Hasco Bridge, near Sedgeley, in the same county, for the purpose +of carrying out the manufacture on the most improved principles. This +furnace was of stone, twenty-seven feet square, provided with +unusually large bellows; and when in full work he says he was enabled +to turn out seven tons of iron per week, "the greatest quantity of +pit-coal iron ever yet made in Great Britain." At the same place he +discovered and opened out new workings of coal ten feet thick, lying +immediately over the ironstone, and he prepared to carry on his +operations on a large scale; but the new works were scarcely finished +when a mob of rioters, instigated by the charcoal-ironmasters, broke +in upon them, cut in pieces the new bellows, destroyed the machinery, +and laid the results of all his deep-laid ingenuity and persevering +industry in ruins. From that time forward Dudley was allowed no rest +nor peace: he was attacked by mobs, worried by lawsuits, and +eventually overwhelmed by debts. He was then seized by his creditors +and sent up to London, where he was held a prisoner in the Comptoir +for several thousand pounds. The charcoal-iron men thus for a time +remained masters of the field. + +Charles I. seems to have taken pity on the suffering inventor; and on +his earnest petition, setting forth the great advantages to the +nation of his invention, from which he had as yet derived no +advantage, but only losses, sufferings, and persecution, the King +granted him a renewal of his patent* + [footnote... +Patent No. 117, Old Series, granted in 1638, to Sir George Horsey, +David Ramsey, Roger Foulke, and Dudd Dudley. + ...] +in the year 1638; three other gentlemen joining him as partners, and +doubtless providing the requisite capital for carrying on the +manufacture after the plans of the inventor. But Dud's evil fortune +continued to pursue him. The patent had scarcely been securedere the +Civil War broke out, and the arts of peace must at once perforce give +place to the arts of war. Dud's nature would not suffer him to be +neutral at such a time; and when the nation divided itself into two +hostile camps, his predilections being strongly loyalist, he took the +side of the King with his father. It would appear from a petition +presented by him to Charles II. in 1660, setting forth his sufferings +in the royal cause, and praying for restoral to certain offices which +he had enjoyed under Charles I., that as early as the year 1637 he +had been employed by the King on a mission into Scotland,* + [footnote... +By his own account, given in Metallum Martis, while in Scotland in +1637, he visited the Highlands as well as the Lowlands, spending the +whole summer of that year "in opening of mines and making of +discoveries;" spending part of the time with Sir James Hope of Lead +Hills, near where, he says, "he got gold." It does not appear, +however, that any iron forges existed in Scotland at the time: indeed +Dudley expressly says that "Scotland maketh no iron;" and in his +treatise of 1665 he urges that the Corporation of the Mines Royal +should set him and his inventions at work to enable Scotland to enjoy +the benefit of a cheap and abundant supply of the manufactured +article. + ...] +in the train of the Marquis of Hamilton, the King's Commissioner. +Again in 1639, leaving his ironworks and partners, he accompanied +Charles on his expedition across the Scotch border, and was present +with the army until its discomfiture at Newburn near Newcastle in the +following year. + +The sword was now fairly drawn, and Dud seems for a time to have +abandoned his iron-works and followed entirely the fortunes of the +king. He was sworn surveyor of the Mews or Armoury in 1640, but being +unable to pay for the patent, another was sworn in in his place. Yet +his loyalty did not falter, for in the beginning of 1642, when +Charles set out from London, shortly after the fall of Strafford and +Laud, Dud went with him.* + [footnote... +The Journals of the House of Commons, of the 13th June, 1642, contain +the resolution "that Captain Wolseley, Ensign Dudley, and John +Lometon be forthwith sent for, as delinquents, by the +Serjeant-at-Arms attending on the House, for giving interruption to +the execution of the ordinance of the militia in the county of +Leicester." + ...] +He was present before Hull when Sir John Hotham shut its gates in the +king's face; at York when the royal commissions of array were sent +out enjoining all loyal subjects to send men, arms, money, and +horses, for defence of the king and maintenance of the law; at +Nottingham, where the royal standard was raised; at Coventry, where +the townspeople refused the king entrance and fired upon his troops +from the walls; at Edgehill, where the first great but indecisive +battle was fought between the contending parties; in short, as Dud +Dudley states in his petition, he was "in most of the battailes that +year, and also supplyed his late sacred Majestie's magazines of +Stafford, Worcester, Dudley Castle, and Oxford, with arms, shot, +drakes, and cannon; and also, became major unto Sir Frauncis +Worsley's regiment, which was much decaied." + +In 1643, according to the statement contained in his petition above +referred to, Dud Dudley acted as military engineer in setting out the +fortifications of Worcester and Stafford, and furnishing them with +ordnance. After the taking of Lichfield, in which he had a share, he +was made Colonel of Dragoons, and accompanied the Queen with his +regiment to the royal head-quarters at Oxford. The year after we find +him at the siege of Gloucester, then at the first battle of Newbury +leading the forlorn hope with Sir George Lisle, afterwards marching +with Sir Charles Lucas into the associate counties, and present at +the royalist rout at Newport. That he was esteemed a valiant and +skilful officer is apparent from the circumstance, that in 1645 he +was appointed general of Prince Maurice's train of artillery, and +afterwards held the same rank under Lord Ashley. The iron districts +being still for the most part occupied by the royal armies, our +military engineer turned his practical experience to account by +directing the forging of drakes* + [footnote... +Small pieces of artillery, specimens of which are still to be seen in +the museum at Woolwich Arsenal and at the Tower. ...] + of bar-iron, which were found of great use, giving up his own +dwelling-house in the city of Worcester for the purpose of carrying +on the manufacture of these and other arms. But Worcester and the +western towns fell before the Parliamentarian armies in 1646, and all +the iron-works belonging to royalists, from which the principal +supplies of arms had been drawn by the King's army, were forthwith +destroyed. + +Dudley fully shared in the dangers and vicissitudes of that trying +period, and bore his part throughout like a valiant soldier. For two +years nothing was heard of him, until in 1648, when the king's party +drew together again, and made head in different parts of the country, +north and south. Goring raised his standard in Essex, but was driven +by Fairfax into Colchester, where he defended himself for two months. +While the siege was in progress, the royalists determined to make an +attempt to raise it. On this Dud Dudley again made his appearance in +the field, and, joining sundry other counties, he proceeded to raise +200 men, mostly at his own charge. They were, however, no sooner +mustered in Bosco Bello woods near Madeley, than they were attacked +by the Parliamentarians, and dispersed or taken prisoners. Dud was +among those so taken, and he was first carried to Hartlebury Castle +and thence to Worcester, where he was imprisoned. Recounting the +sufferings of himself and his followers on this occasion, in the +petition presented to Charles II. in 1660,* + [footnote... +State Paper Office, Dom. Charles II., vol. xi. 54. + ...] +he says, "200 men were dispersed, killed, and some taken, namely, +Major Harcourt, Major Elliotts, Capt. Long, and Cornet Hodgetts, of +whom Major Harcourt was miserably burned with matches. The petitioner +and the rest were stripped almost naked, and in triumph and scorn +carried up to the city of Worcester (which place Dud had fortified +for the king), and kept close prisoners, with double guards set upon +the prison and the city." + +Notwithstanding this close watch and durance, Dudley and Major +Elliotts contrived to break out of gaol, making their way over the +tops of the houses, afterwards passing the guards at the city gates, +and escaping into the open country. Being hotly pursued , they +travelled during the night, and took to the trees during the daytime. +They succeeded in reaching London, but only to drop again into the +lion's mouth; for first Major Elliotts was captured, then Dudley, and +both were taken before Sir John Warner, the Lord Mayor, who forthwith +sent them before the "cursed committee of insurrection," as Dudley +calls them. The prisoners were summarily sentenced to be shot to +death, and were meanwhile closely imprisoned in the Gatehouse at +Westminster, with other Royalists. + +The day before their intended execution, the prisoners formed a plan +of escape. It was Sunday morning, the 20th August, 1648, when they +seized their opportunity, "at ten of the cloeke in sermon time;" and, +overpowering the gaolers, Dudley, with Sir Henry Bates, Major +Elliotts, Captain South, Captain Paris, and six others, succeeded in +getting away, and making again for the open country. Dudley had +received a wound in the leg, and could only get along with great +difficulty. He records that he proceeded on crutches, through +Worcester, Tewkesbury, and Gloucester, to Bristol, having been "fed +three weeks in private in an enemy's hay mow." Even the most +lynx-eyed Parliamentarian must have failed to recognise the quondam +royalist general of artillery in the helpless creature dragging +himself along upon crutches; and he reached Bristol in safety. + +His military career now over, he found himself absolutely penniless. +His estate of about 200L. per annum had been sequestrated and sold by +the government;* + [footnote... +The Journals of the House of Commons, on the 2nd Nov. 1652, have the +following entry: "The House this day resumed the debate upon the +additional Bill for sale of several lands and estates forfeited to +the Commonwealth for treason, when it was resolved that the name of +Dud Dudley of Green Lodge be inserted into this Bill." + ...] +his house in Worcester had been seized and his sickly wife turned out +of doors; and his goods, stock, great shop, and ironworks, which he +himself valued at 2000L., were destroyed. He had also lost the +offices of Serjeant-at-arms, Lieutenant of Ordnance, and Surveyor of +the Mews, which he had held under the king; in a word, he found +himself reduced to a state of utter destitution. + +Dudley was for some time under the necessity of living in great +privacy at Bristol; but when the king had been executed, and the +royalists were finally crushed at Worcester, Dud gradually emerged +from his concealment. He was still the sole possessor of the grand +secret of smelting iron with pit-coal, and he resolved upon one more +commercial adventure, in the hope of yet turning it to good account. +He succeeded in inducing Walter Stevens, linendraper, and John Stone, +merchant, both of Bristol, to join him as partners in an ironwork, +which they proceeded to erect near that city. The buildings were well +advanced, and nearly 700L. had been expended, when a quarrel occurred +between Dudley and his partners, which ended in the stoppage of the +works, and the concern being thrown into Chancery. Dudley alleges +that the other partners "cunningly drew him into a bond," and "did +unjustly enter staple actions in Bristol of great value against him, +because he was of the king's party;" but it would appear as if there +had been some twist or infirmity of temper in Dudley himself, which +prevented him from working harmoniously with such persons as he +became associated with in affairs of business. + +In the mean time other attempts were made to smelt iron with +pit-coal. Dudley says that Cromwell and the then Parliament granted a +patent to Captain Buck for the purpose; and that Cromwell himself, +Major Wildman, and various others were partners in the patent. They +erected furnaces and works in the Forest of Dean;* + [footnote... +Mr. Mushet, in his 'Papers on Iron,' says, that "although he had +carefully examined every spot and relic in Dean Forest likely to +denote the site of Dud Dudley's enterprising but unfortunate +experiment of making pig-iron with pit coal," it had been without +success; neither could he find any traces of the like operations of +Cromwell and his partners. + ...] +but, though Cromwell and his officers could fight and win battles, +they could not smelt and forge iron with pit-coal. They brought one +Dagney, an Italian glass-maker, from Bristol, to erect a new furnace +for them, provided with sundry pots of glass-house clay; but no +success attended their efforts. The partners knowing of Dudley's +possession of the grand secret, invited him to visit their works; but +all they could draw from him was that they would never succeed in +making iron to profit by the methods they were pursuing. They next +proceeded to erect other works at Bristol, but still they failed. +Major Wildman* + [footnote... +Dudley says, "Major Wildman, more barbarous to me than a wild man, +although a minister, bought the author's estate, near 200L. per +annum, intending to compell from the author his inventions of making +iron with pitcole, but afterwards passed my estate unto two barbarous +brokers of London, that pulled down the author's two mantion houses, +sold 500 timber trees off his land, and to this day are his houses +unrepaired. Wildman himself fell under the grip of Cromwell. Being +one of the chiefs of the Republican party, he was seized at Exton, +near Marlborough, in l654, and imprisoned in Chepstow Castle. + ...] +bought Dudley's sequestrated estate, in the hope of being able to +extort his secret of making iron with pit-coal; but all their +attempts proving abortive, they at length abandoned the enterprise in +despair. In 1656, one Captain Copley obtained from Cromwell a further +patent with a similar object; and erected works near Bristol, and +also in the Forest of Kingswood. The mechanical engineers employed by +Copley failed in making his bellows blow; on which he sent for +Dudley, who forthwith "made his bellows to be blown feisibly;" but +Copley failed, like his predecessors, in making iron, and at length +he too desisted from further experiments. + +Such continued to be the state of things until the Restoration, when +we find Dud Dudley a petitioner to the king for the renewal of his +patent. He was also a petitioner for compensation in respect of the +heavy losses he had sustained during the civil wars. The king was +besieged by crowds of applicants of a similar sort, but Dudley was no +more successful than the others. He failed in obtaining the renewal +of his patent. Another applicant for the like privilege, probably +having greater interest at court, proved more successful. Colonel +Proger and three others* + [footnote... +June 13, 1661. Petition of Col. Jas. Proger and three others to the +king for a patent for the sole exercise of their invention of melting +down iron and other metals with coal instead of wood, as the great +consumption of coal [charcoal ?] therein causes detriment to +shipping, &c. With reference thereon to Attorney-General Palmer, and +his report, June 18, in favour of the petition,--State Papers, +Charles II. (Dom. vol, xxxvii, 49. + ...] +were granted a patent to make iron with coal; but Dudley knew the +secret, which the new patentees did not; and their patent came to +nothing. + +Dudley continued to address the king in importunate petitions, asking +to be restored to his former offices of Serjeant-at-arms, Lieutenant +of Ordnance, and Surveyor of the Mews or Armoury. He also petitioned +to be appointed Master of the Charter House in Smithfield, professing +himself willing to take anything, or hold any living.* + [footnote... +In his second petition he prays that a dwelling-house situated in +Worcester, and belonging to one Baldwin, "a known traitor," may be +assigned to him in lieu of Alderman Nash's, which had reverted to +that individual since his return to loyalty; Dudley reminding the +king that his own house in that city had been given up by him for the +service of his father Charles I., and turned into a factory for arms. +It does not appear that this part of his petition was successful. + ...] +We find him sending in two petitions to a similar effect in June, +1660; and a third shortly after. The result was, that he was +reappointed to the office of Serjeant-at-Arms; but the Mastership of +the Charter-House was not disposed of until 1662, when it fell to the +lot of one Thomas Watson.* + [footnote... +State Papers, vol. xxxi. Doquet Book, p.89. + ...] +In 1661, we find a patent granted to Wm. Chamberlaine and--Dudley, +Esq., for the sole use of their new invention of plating steel, &c., +and tinning the said plates; but whether Dud Dudley was the person +referred to, we are unable precisely to determine. A few years later, +he seems to have succeeded in obtaining the means of prosecuting his +original invention; for in his Metallum Martis, published in 1665, he +describes himself as living at Green's Lodge, in Staffordshire; and +he says that near it are four forges, Green's Forge, Swin Forge, +Heath Forge, and Cradley Forge, where he practises his "perfect +invention." These forges, he adds, "have barred all or most part of +their iron with pit-coal since the authors first invention In 1618, +which hath preserved much wood. In these four, besides many other +forges, do the like [sic ]; yet the author hath had no benefit +thereby to this present." From that time forward, Dud becomes lost to +sight. He seems eventually to have retired to St. Helen's in +Worcestershire, where he died in 1684, in the 85th year of his age. +He was buried in the parish church there, and a monument, now +destroyed, was erected to his memory, bearing the inscription partly +set forth underneath.* + [footnote... + + Pulvis et umbra sumus + Memento mori. + +Dodo Dudley chiliarchi nobilis Edwardi nuper domini de Dudley filius, +patri charus et regiae Majestatis fidissimus subditus et servus in +asserendo regein, in vindicartdo ecclesiam, in propugnando legem ac +libertatem Anglicanam, saepe captus, anno 1648, semel condemnatus et +tamen non decollatus, renatum denuo vidit diadaema hic inconcussa +semper virtute senex. + + Differt non aufert mortem longissima vita + Sed differt multam cras hodiere mori. + Quod nequeas vitare, fugis: + Nec formidanda est. + +Plot frequently alludes to Dudley in his Natural History of +Staffordshire, and when he does so he describes him as the "worshipful +Dud Dudley," showing the estimation in which he was held by his +contemporaries. + ...] + +CHAPTER IV. + +ANDREW YARRANTON. + +"There never have been wanting men to whom England's improvement by +sea and land was one of the dearest thoughts of their lives, and to +whom England's good was the foremost of their worldly considerations. +And such, emphatically, was Andrew Yarranton, a true patriot in the +best sense of the word."--DOVE, Elements of Political Science. + + +That industry had a sore time of it during the civil wars will +further appear from the following brief account of Andrew Yarranton, +which may be taken as a companion memoir to that of Dud Dudley. For +Yarranton also was a Worcester ironmaster and a soldier--though on +the opposite side,--but more even than Dudley was he a man of public +spirit and enterprise, an enlightened political economist (long +before political economy had been recognised as a science), and in +many respects a true national benefactor. Bishop Watson said that he +ought to have had a statue erected to his memory because of his +eminent public services; and an able modern writer has gone so far as +to say of him that he was "the founder of English political economy, +the first man in England who saw and said that peace was better than +war, that trade was better than plunder, that honest industry was +better than martial greatness, and that the best occupation of a +government was to secure prosperity at home, and let other nations +alone."* + [footnote... +PATRICK EDWARD DOVE, Elements of Political Science. Edinburgh, 1854. + ...] +Yet the name of Andrew Yarranton is scarcely remembered, or is at +most known to only a few readers of half-forgotten books. The +following brief outline of his history is gathered from his own +narrative and from documents in the State Paper Office. + +Andrew Yarranton was born at the farmstead of Larford, in the parish +of Astley, in Worcestershire, in the year 1616.* + [footnote... +A copy of the entries in the parish register relating to the various +members of the Yarranton family, kindly forwarded to us by the Rev. +H. W. Cookes, rector of Astley, shows them to have resided in that +parish for many generations. There were the Yarrantons of Yarranton, +of Redstone, of Larford, of Brockenton, and of Longmore. With that +disregard for orthography in proper names which prevailed some three +hundred years since, they are indifferently designated as Yarran, +Yarranton, and Yarrington. The name was most probably derived from +two farms named Great and Little Yarranton, or Yarran (originally +Yarhampton), situated in the parish of Astley. The Yarrantons +frequently filled local offices in that parish, and we find several +of them officiating at different periods as bailiffs of Bewdley. + ...] +In his sixteenth year he was put apprentice to a Worcester +linendraper, and remained at that trade for some years; but not +liking it, he left it, and was leading a country life when the civil +wars broke out. Unlike Dudley, he took the side of the Parliament, +and joined their army, in which he served for some time as a soldier. +His zeal and abilities commended him to his officers, and he was +raised from one position to another, until in the course of a few +years we find him holding the rank of captain. "While a soldier," +says he, "I had sometimes the honour and misfortune to lodge and +dislodge an army;" but this is all the information he gives us of his +military career. In the year 1648 he was instrumental in discovering +and frustrating a design on the part of the Royalists to seize Doyley +House in the county of Hereford, and other strongholds, for which he +received the thanks of Parliament "for his ingenuity, discretion, and +valour," and a substantial reward of 500L.* + [footnote... +Journals of the House of Commons, lst July, 1648. + ...] +He was also recommended to the Committee of Worcester for further +employment. But from that time we hear no more of him in connection +with the civil wars. When Cromwell assumed the supreme control of +affairs, Yarranton retired from the army with most of the +Presbyterians, and devoted himself to industrial pursuits. + +We then find him engaged in carrying on the manufacture of iron at +Ashley, near Bewdley, in Worcestershire. "In the year 1652", says he, +"I entered upon iron-works, and plied them for several years."* + [footnote... +YARRANTON'S England's Improvement by Sea and Land. Part I. London, +1677. + ...] +He made it a subject of his diligent study how to provide employment +for the poor, then much distressed by the late wars. With the help of +his wife, he established a manufacture of linen, which was attended +with good results. Observing how the difficulties of communication, +by reason of the badness of the roads, hindered the development of +the rich natural resources of the western counties,* + [footnote... +There seems a foundation of truth in the old English distich -- + + The North for Greatness, the East for Health, + The South for Neatness, the West for Wealth. + ...] +he applied himself to the improvement of the navigation of the larger +rivers, making surveys of them at his own cost, and endeavouring to +stimulate local enterprise so as to enable him to carry his plans +into effect. + +While thus occupied, the restoration of Charles II. took place, and +whether through envy or enmity Yarranton's activity excited the +suspicion of the authorities. His journeys from place to place seemed +to them to point to some Presbyterian plot on foot. On the 13th of +November, 1660, Lord Windsor, Lord-Lieutenant of the county, wrote to +the Secretary of State--"There is a quaker in prison for speaking +treason against his Majesty, and a countryman also, and Captain +Yarrington for refusing to obey my authority."* + [footnote... +State Paper Office. Dom. Charles II. 1660-1. Yarranton afterwards +succeeded in making a friend of Lord Windsor, as would appear from +his dedication of England's Improvement to his Lordship, whom he +thanks for the encouragement he had given to him in his survey of +several rivers with a view to their being rendered navigable. + ...] +It would appear from subsequent letters that Yarranton must have lain +in prison for nearly two years, charged with conspiring against the +king's authority, the only evidence against him consisting of some +anonymous letter's. At the end of May, 1662, he succeeded in making +his escape from the custody of the Provost Marshal. The High Sheriff +scoured the country after him at the head of a party of horse, and +then he communicated to the Secretary of State, Sir Edward Nicholas, +that the suspected conspirator could not be found, and was supposed +to have made his way to London. Before the end of a month Yarranton +was again in custody, as appears from the communication of certain +justices of Surrey to Sir Edward Nicholas.* + [footnote... +The following is a copy of the document from the State Papers: -- +"John Bramfield, Geo. Moore, and Thos. Lee, Esqrs. and Justices of +Surrey, to Sir Edw. Nicholas.--There being this day brought before us +one Andrew Yarranton, and he accused to have broken prison, or at +least made his escape out of the Marshalsea at Worcester, being there +committed by the Deputy-Lieuts. upon suspicion of a plot in November +last; we having thereupon examined him, he allegeth that his Majesty +hath been sought unto on his behalf, and hath given order to yourself +for his discharge, and a supersedeas against all persons and +warrants, and thereupon hath desired to appeal unto you. The which we +conceiving to be convenient and reasonable (there being no positive +charge against him before us), have accordingly herewith conveyed +him unto you by a safe hand, to be further examined or disposed of as +you shall find meet.--S. P. O. Dom. Chas. II. 23rd June, 1662. + ...] +As no further notice of Yarranton occurs in the State Papers, and as +we shortly after find him publicly occupied in carrying out his plans +for improving the navigation of the western rivers, it is probable +that his innoceney of any plot was established after a legal +investigation. A few years later he published in London a 4to. tract +entitled 'A Full Discovery of the First Presbyterian Sham Plot,' +which most probably contained a vindication of his conduct.* + [footnote... +We have been unable to refer to this tract, there being no copy of it +in the British Museum. + ...] + +Yarranton was no sooner at liberty than we find him again occupied +with his plans of improved inland navigation. His first scheme was to +deepen the small river Salwarp, so as to connect Droitwich with the +Severn by a water communication, and thus facilitate the transport of +the salt so abundantly yielded by the brine springs near that town. +In 1665, the burgesses of Droitwich agreed to give him 750L. and +eight salt vats in Upwich, valued at 80L. per annum, with +three-quarters of a vat in Northwich, for twenty-one years, in +payment for the work. But the times were still unsettled, and +Yarranton and his partner Wall not being rich, the scheme was not +then carried into effect.* + [footnote... +NASH'S Worcestershire, i. 306. + ...] +In the following year we find him occupied with a similar scheme to +open up the navigation of the river Stour, passing by Stourport and +Kidderminster, and connect it by an artificial cut with the river +Trent. Some progress was made with this undertaking, so far in +advance of the age, but, like the other, it came to a stand still for +want of money, and more than a hundred years passed before it was +carried out by a kindred genius--James Brindley, the great canal +maker. Mr. Chambers says that when Yarranton's scheme was first +brought forward, it met with violent opposition and ridicule. The +undertaking was thought wonderfully bold, and, joined to its great +extent, the sandy, spongy nature of the ground, the high banks +necessary to prevent the inundation of the Stour on the canal, +furnished its opponents, if not with sound argument, at least with +very specious topics for opposition and laughter.* + [footnote... +JOHN CHAMBERS, Biographical Illustrations of Worcestershire. London, +1820. + ...] +Yarranton's plan was to make the river itself navigable, and by +uniting it with other rivers, open up a communication with the Trent; +while Brindley's was to cut a canal parallel with the river, and +supply it with water from thence. Yarranton himself thus accounts for +the failure of his scheme in 'England's Improvement by Sea and +Land': -- "It was my projection," he says, "and I will tell you the +reason why it was not finished. The river Stour and some other rivers +were granted by an Act of Parliament to certain persons of honor, and +some progress was made in the work, but within a small while after +the Act passed* + [footnote... +The Act for making the Stour and Salwarp navigable originated in the +Lords and was passed in the year 1661. + ...] +it was let fall again; but it being a brat of my own, I was not +willing it should be abortive, wherefore I made offers to perfect it, +having a third part of the inheritance to me and my heirs for ever, +and we came to an agreement, upon which I fell on, and made it +completely navigable from Stourbridge to Kidderminster, and carried +down many hundred tons of coal, and laid out near 1000L., and there +it was obstructed for want of money."* + [footnote... +Nash, in his Hist. of Worc., intimates that Lord Windsor subsequently +renewed the attempt to make the Salwarp navigable. He constructed +five out of the six locks, and then abandoned the scheme. Gough, in +his edition of Camden's Brit. ii. 357, Lond. 1789, says, "It is not +long since some of the boats made use of in Yarranton's navigation +were found. Neither tradition nor our projector's account of the +matter perfectly satisfy us why this navigation was neglected..... We +must therefore conclude that the numerous works and glass-houses upon +the Stour, and in the neighbourhood of Stourbridge, did not then +exist, A.D. 1666. ....The navigable communication which now connects +Trent and Severn, and which runs in the course of Yarranton's +project, is already of general use.... The canal since executed under +the inspection of Mr. Brindley, running parallel with the river.... +cost the proprietors 105,000L." + ...] + +Another of Yarranton's far-sighted schemes of a similar kind was one +to connect the Thames with the Severn by means of an artificial cut, +at the very place where, more than a century after his death, it was +actually carried out by modern engineers. This canal, it appears, was +twice surveyed under his direction by his son. He did, however, +succeed in his own time in opening up the navigation. of the Avon, +and was the first to carry barges upon its waters from Tewkesbury to +Stratford. + +The improvement of agriculture, too, had a share of Yarranton's +attention. He saw the soil exhausted by long tillage and constantly +repeated crops of rye, and he urged that the land should have rest or +at least rotation of crop. With this object he introduced +clover-seed, and supplied it largely to the farmers of the western +counties, who found their land doubled in value by the new method of +husbandry, and it shortly became adopted throughout the country. +Seeing how commerce was retarded by the small accommodation provided +for shipping at the then principal ports, Yarranton next made surveys +and planned docks for the city of London; but though he zealously +advocated the subject, he found few supporters, and his plans proved +fruitless. In this respect he was nearly a hundred and fifty years +before his age, and the London importers continued to conduct their +shipping business in the crowded tideway of the Thames down even to +the beginning of the present century. + +While carrying on his iron works, it occurred to Yarranton that it +would be of great national advantage if the manufacture of tin-plate +could be introduced into England. Although the richest tin mines then +known existed in this country, the mechanical arts were at so low an +ebb that we were almost entirely dependent upon foreigners for the +supply of the articles manufactured from the metal. The Saxons were +the principal consumers of English tin, and we obtained from them in +return nearly the whole of our tin-plates. All attempts made to +manufacture them in England had hitherto failed; the beating out of +the iron by hammers into laminae sufficiently thin and smooth, and +the subsequent distribution and fixing of the film of tin over the +surface of the iron, proving difficulties which the English +manufacturers were unable to overcome. To master these difficulties +the indefatigable Yarranton set himself to work. "Knowing," says he, +"the usefulness of tin-plates and the goodness of our metals for that +purpose, I did, about sixteen years since (i.e. about 1665), +endeavour to find out the way for making thereof; whereupon I +acquainted a person of much riches, and one that was very +understanding in the iron manufacture, who was pleased to say that he +had often designed to get the trade into England, but never could +find out the way. Upon which it was agreed that a sum of monies +should be advanced by several persons,* + [footnote... +In the dedication of his book, entitled Englands Improvement by Sea +and Land, Part I., Yarranton gives the names of the "noble patriots" +who sent him on his journey of inquiry. They were Sir Waiter Kirtham +Blount, Bart., Sir Samuel Baldwin and Sir Timothy Baldwin, Knights, +Thomas Foley and Philip Foley, Esquires, and six other gentlemen. The +father of the Foleys was himself supposed to have introduced the art +of iron-splitting into England by an expedient similar to that +adopted by Yarranton in obtaining a knowledge of the tin-plate +manufacture (Self-Help, p.145). The secret of the silk-throwing +machinery of Piedmont was in like manner introduced into England by +Mr. Lombe of Derby, who shortly succeeded in founding a flourishing +branch of manufacture. These were indeed the days of romance and +adventure in manufactures. + ...] +for the defraying of my charges of travelling to the place where +these plates are made, and from thence to bring away the art of +making them. Upon which, an able fire-man, that well understood the +nature of iron, was made choice of to accompany me; and being fitted +with an ingenious interpreter that well understood the language, and +that had dealt much in that commodity, we marched first for Hamburgh, +then to Leipsic, and from thence to Dresden, the Duke of Saxony's +court, where we had notice of the place where the plates were made; +which was in a large tract of mountainous land, running from a place +called Seger-Hutton unto a town called Awe [Au], being in length +about twenty miles."* + [footnote... +The district is known as the Erzgebirge or Ore Mountains, and the +Riesengebirge or Giant Mountains, MacCulloch says that upwards of 500 +mines are wrought in the former district, and that one-thirtieth of +the entire population of Saxony to this day derive their subsistence +from mining industry and the manufacture of metallic products.-- +Geographical Dict. ii. 643, edit. 1854. + ...] + +It is curious to find how much the national industry of England has +been influenced by the existence from time to time of religious +persecutions abroad, which had the effect of driving skilled +Protestant artisans, more particularly from Flanders and France, into +England, where they enjoyed the special protection of successive +English Governments, and founded various important branches of +manufacture. But it appears from the history of the tin manufactures +of Saxony, that that country also had profited in like manner by the +religious persecutions of Germany, and even of England itself. Thus +we are told by Yarranton that it was a Cornish miner, a Protestant, +banished out of England for his religion in Queen Mary's time, who +discovered the tin mines at Awe, and that a Romish priest of Bohemia, +who had been converted to Lutheranism and fled into Saxony for +refuge, "was the chief instrument in the manufacture until it was +perfected." These two men were held in great regard by the Duke of +Saxony as well as by the people of the country; for their ingenuity +and industry proved the source of great prosperity and wealth, +"several fine cities," says Yarranton, "having been raised by the +riches proceeding from the tin-works"--not less than 80,000 men +depending upon the trade for their subsistence; and when Yarranton +visited Awe, he found that a statue had been erected to the memory of +the Cornish miner who first discovered the tin. + +Yarranton was very civilly received by the miners, and, contrary to +his expectation, he was allowed freely to inspect the tin-works and +examine the methods by which the iron-plates were rolled out, as well +as the process of tinning them. He was even permitted to engage a +number of skilled workmen, whom he brought over with him to England +for the purpose of starting the manufacture in this country. A +beginning was made, and the tin-plates manufactured by Yarranton's +men were pronounced of better quality even than those made in Saxony. +"Many thousand plates," Yarranton says, "were made from iron raised +in the Forest of Dean, and were tinned over with Cornish tin; and the +plates proved far better than the German ones, by reason of the +toughness and flexibleness of our forest iron. One Mr. Bison, a +tinman in Worcester, Mr. Lydiate near Fleet Bridge, and Mr. Harrison +near the King's Bench, have wrought many, and know their goodness." +As Yarranton's account was written and published during the lifetime +of the parties, there is no reason to doubt the accuracy of his +statement. + +Arrangements were made to carry on the manufacture upon a large +scale; but the secret having got wind, a patent was taken out, or +"trumpt up" as Yarranton calls it, for the manufacture, "the patentee +being countenanced by some persons of quality," and Yarranton was +precluded from carrying his operations further. It is not improbable +that the patentee in question was William Chamberlaine, Dud Dudley's +quondam partner in the iron manufacture.* + [footnote... +Chamberlaine and Dudley's first licence was granted in 1661 for +plating steel and tinning the said plates; and Chamberlaine's sole +patent for "plating and tinning iron, copper, &c.," was granted in +1673, probably the patent in question. + ...] +"What with the patent being in our way," says Yarranton, "and the +richest of our partners being afraid to offend great men in power, +who had their eye upon us, it caused the thing to cool, and the +making of the tin-plates was neither proceeded in by us, nor possibly +could be by him that had the patent; because neither he that hath the +patent, nor those that have countenanced him, can make one plate fit +for use." Yarranton's labours were thus lost to the English public +for a time; and we continued to import all our tin-plates from +Germany until about sixty years later, when a tin-plate manufactory +was established by Capel Hanbury at Pontypool in Monmouthshire, where +it has since continued to be successfully carried on. + +We can only briefly refer to the subsequent history of Andrew +Yarranton. Shortly after his journey into Saxony, he proceeded to +Holland to examine the inland navigations of the Dutch, to inspect +their linen and other manufactures, and to inquire into the causes of +the then extraordinary prosperity of that country compared with +England. Industry was in a very languishing state at home. "People +confess they are sick," said Yarranton, "that trade is in a +consumption, and the whole nation languishes." He therefore +determined to ascertain whether something useful might not be learnt +from the example of Holland. The Dutch were then the hardest working +and the most thriving people in Europe. They were manufacturers and +carriers for the world. Their fleets floated on every known sea; and +their herring-busses swarmed along our coasts as far north as the +Hebrides. The Dutch supplied our markets with fish caught within +sight of our own shores, while our coasting population stood idly +looking on. Yarranton regarded this state of things as most +discreditable, and he urged the establishment of various branches of +home industry as the best way of out-doing the Dutch without fighting +them. + +Wherever he travelled abroad, in Germany or in Holland, he saw +industry attended by wealth and comfort, and idleness by poverty and +misery. The same pursuits, he held, would prove as beneficial to +England as they were abundantly proved to have been to Holland. The +healthy life of work was good for all--for individuals as for the +whole nation; and if we would out-do the Dutch, he held that we must +out-do them in industry. But all must be done honestly and by fair +means. "Common Honesty," said Yarranton, "is as necessary and needful +in kingdoms and commonwealths that depend upon Trade, as discipline +is in an army; and where there is want of common Honesty in a kingdom +or commonwealth, from thence Trade shall depart. For as the Honesty +of all governments is, so shall be their Riches; and as their Honour, +Honesty, and Riches are, so will be their Strength; and as their +Honour, Honesty, Riches, and Strength are, so will be their Trade. +These are five sisters that go hand in hand, and must not be parted." +Admirable sentiments, which are as true now as they were two hundred +years ago, when Yarranton urged them upon the attention of the +English public. + +On his return from Holland, he accordingly set on foot various +schemes of public utility. He stirred up a movement for the +encouragement of the British fisheries. He made several journeys into +Ireland for the purpose of planting new manufactures there. He +surveyed the River Slade with the object of rendering it navigable, +and proposed a plan for improving the harbour of Dublin. He also +surveyed the Dee in England with a view to its being connected with +the Severn. Chambers says that on the decline of his popularity in +1677, he was taken by Lord Clarendon to Salisbury to survey the River +Avon, and find out how that river might be made navigable, and also +whether a safe harbour for ships could be made at Christchurch; and +that having found where he thought safe anchorage might be obtained, +his Lordship proceeded to act upon Yarranton's recommendations.* + [footnote... +JOHN CHAMBERS, Biographical Illustrations of Worcestershire. London, +1820. + ...] + +Another of his grand schemes was the establishment of the linen +manufacture in the central counties of England, which, he showed, +were well adapted for the growth of flax; and he calculated that if +success attended his efforts, at least two millions of money then +sent out of the country for the purchase of foreign linen would be +retained at home, besides increasing the value of the land on which +the flax was grown, and giving remunerative employment to our own +people, then emigrating for want of work. " Nothing but Sloth or +Envy," he said, "can possibly hinder my labours from being crowned +with the wished for success; our habitual fondness for the one hath +already brought us to the brink of ruin, and our proneness to the +other hath almost discouraged all pious endeavours to promote our +future happiness." + +In 1677 he published the first part of his England's Improvement by +Sea and Land--a very remarkable book, full of sagacious insight as +respected the future commercial and manufacturing greatness of +England. Mr. Dove says of this book that Yarranton" chalks out in it +the future course of Britain with as free a hand as if second-sight +had revealed to him those expansions of her industrial career which +never fail to surprise us, even when we behold them realized." +Besides his extensive plans for making harbours and improving +internal navigation with the object of creating new channels for +domestic industry, his schemes for extending the iron and the woollen +trades, establishing the linen manufacture, and cultivating the home +fisheries, we find him throwing out various valuable suggestions with +reference to the means of facilitating commercial transactions, some +of winch have only been carried out in our own day. One of his +grandest ideas was the establishment of a public bank, the credit of +which, based upon the security of freehold land,* + [footnote... +Yarranton's Land Bank was actually projected in 1695, and received +the sanction of Parliament; though the Bank of England (founded in +the preceding year) petitioned against it, and the scheme was +dropped. + ...] +should enable its paper "to go in trade equal with ready money." A +bank of this sort formed one of the principal means by which the +Dutch had been enabled to extend their commercial transactions, and +Yarranton accordingly urged its introduction into England. Part of +his scheme consisted of a voluntary register of real property, for +the purpose of effecting simplicity of title, and obtaining relief +from the excessive charges for law,* + [footnote... +It is interesting to note in passing, that part of Yarranton's scheme +has recently been carried into effect by the Act (25 and 26 Vict. c. +53) passed in 1862 for the Registration of Real Estate. + ...] +as well as enabling money to be readily raised for commercial +purposes on security of the land registered. + +He pointed out very graphically the straits to which a man is put who +is possessed of real property enough, but in a time of pressure is +unable to turn himself round for want of ready cash. "Then," says he, +"all his creditors crowd to him as pigs do through a hole to a bean +and pease rick." "Is it not a sad thing," he asks, "that a +goldsmith's boy in Lombard Street, who gives notes for the monies +handed him by the merchants, should take up more monies upon his +notes in one day than two lords, four knights, and eight esquires in +twelve months upon all their personal securities? We are, as it were, +cutting off our legs and arms to see who will feed the trunk. But we +cannot expect this from any of our neighbours abroad, whose interest +depends upon our loss." + +He therefore proposed his registry of property as a ready means of +raising a credit for purposes of trade. Thus, he says, "I can both in +England and Wales register my wedding, my burial, and my christening, +and a poor parish clerk is entrusted with the keeping of the book; +and that which is registered there is held good by our law. But I +cannot register my lands, to be honest, to pay every man his own, to +prevent those sad things that attend families for want thereof, and +to have the great benefit and advantage that would come thereby. A +register will quicken trade, and the land registered will be equal as +cash in a man's hands, and the credit thereof will go and do in trade +what ready money now doth." His idea was to raise money, when +necessary, on the land registered, by giving security thereon after a +form which be suggested. He would, in fact, have made land, as gold +now is, the basis of an extended currency; and he rightly held that +the value of land as a security must always be unexceptionable, and +superior to any metallic basis that could possibly be devised. + +This indefatigable man continued to urge his various designs upon the +attention of the public until he was far advanced in years. He +professed that he was moved to do so (and we believe him) solely by +an ardent love for his country, "whose future flourishing," said he, +"is the only reward I ever hope to see of all my labours." Yarranton, +however, received but little thanks for his persistency, while he +encountered many rebuffs. The public for the most part turned a deaf +ear to his entreaties; and his writings proved of comparatively small +avail, at least during his own lifetime. He experienced the lot of +many patriots, even the purest--the suspicion and detraction of his +contemporaries. His old political enemies do not seem to have +forgotten him, of which we have the evidence in certain rare +"broadsides" still extant, twitting him with the failure of his +schemes, and even trumping up false charges of disloyalty against +him.* + [footnote... +One of these is entitled 'A Coffee-house Dialogue, or a Discourse +between Captain Y--and a Young Barrister of the Middle Temple; with +some Reflections upon the Bill against the D. of Y.' In this +broadside, of 3 1/2 pages folio, published about 1679, Yarranton is +made to favour the Duke of York's exclusion from the throne, not only +because he was a papist, but for graver reasons than he dare express. +Another scurrilous pamphlet, entitled 'A Word Without Doors,' was +also aimed at him. Yarranton, or his friends, replied to the first +attack in a folio of two pages, entitled 'The Coffee-house Dialogue +Examined and Refuted, by some Neighbours in the Country , +well-wishers to the Kingdom's interest.' The controversy was followed +up by 'A Continuation of the Coffee-house Dialogue,' in which the +chief interlocutor hits Yarranton rather hard for the miscarriage of +his "improvements." "I know," says he, "when and where you undertook +for a small charge to make a river navigable, and it has cost the +proprietors about six times as much, and is not yet effective; nor +can any man rationally predict when it will be. I know since you left +it your son undertook it, and this winter shamefully left his +undertaking." Yarrantons friends immediately replied in a four-page +folio, entitled 'England's Improvements Justified; and the Author +thereof, Captain Y., vindicated from the Scandals in a paper called a +Coffee-house Dialogue; with some Animadversions upon the Popish +Designs therein contained.' The writer says he writes without the +privity or sanction of Yarranton, but declares the dialogue to be a +forgery, and that the alleged conference never took place. "His +innocence, when he heard of it, only provoked a smile, with this +answer, Spreta vilescunt, falsehoods mu st perish, and are soonest +destroyed by contempt; so that he needs no further vindication. The +writer then proceeds at some length to vindicate the Captain's famous +work and the propositions contained in it. + ...] + +In 1681 he published the second part of 'England's Improvement,'* + [footnote... +This work (especially with the plates) is excessively rare. There is +a copy of it in perfect condition in the Grenville Library, British +Museum. + ...] +in which he gave a summary account of its then limited growths and +manufactures, pointing out that England and Ireland were the only +northern kingdoms remaining unimproved; he re-urged the benefits and +necessity of a voluntary register of real property; pointed out a +method of improving the Royal Navy, lessening the growing power of +France, and establishing home fisheries; proposed the securing and +fortifying of Tangier; described a plan for preventing fires in +London, and reducing the charge for maintaining the Trained Bands; +urged the formation of a harbour at Newhaven in Sussex; and, finally, +discoursed at considerable length upon the tin, iron, linen, and +woollen trades, setting forth various methods for their improvement. +In this last section, after referring to the depression in the +domestic tin trade (Cornish tin selling so low as 70s. the cwt.), he +suggested a way of reviving it. With the Cornish tin he would combine +"the Roman cinders and iron-stone in the Forest of Dean, which makes +the best iron for most uses in the world, and works up to the best +advantage, with delight and pleasure to the workmen." He then +described the history of his own efforts to import the manufacture of +tin-plates into England some sixteen years before, in which he had +been thwarted by Chamberlaine's patent, as above described,--and +offered sundry queries as to the utility of patents generally, which, +says he, "have the tendency to drive trade out of the kingdom." +Appended to the chapter on Tin is an exceedingly amusing dialogue +between a tin-miner of Cornwall, an iron-miner of Dean Forest, and a +traveller (himself). From this we gather that Yarranton's business +continued to be that of an iron-manufacturer at his works at Ashley +near Bewdley. Thus the iron-miner says, "About 28 years since Mr. +Yarranton found out a vast quantity of Roman cinders, near the walls +of the city of Worcester, from whence he and others carried away many +thousand tons or loads up the river Severn, unto their iron-furnaces, +to be melted down into iron, with a mixture of the Forest of Dean +iron-stone; and within 100 yards of the walls of the city of +Worcester there was dug up one of the hearths of the Roman +foot-blasts, it being then firm and in order, and was 7 foot deep in +the earth; and by the side of the work there was found a pot of Roman +coin to the quantity of a peck, some of which was presented to Sir +[Wm.] Dugdale, and part thereof is now in the King's Closet."* + [footnote... +Dr. Nash, in his History of Worcestershire, has thrown some doubts +upon this story; but Mr. Green, in his Historical Antiquities of the +city, has made a most able defence of Yarranton's statement (vol.i. +9, in foot-note). + ...] + +In the same year (1681) in which the second part of 'England's +Improvement' appeared, Yarranton proceeded to Dunkirk for the purpose +of making a personal survey of that port, then belonging to England; +and on his return he published a map of the town, harbour, and castle +on the sea, with accompanying letterpress, in which he recommended, +for the safety of British trade, the demolition of the fortifications +of Dunkirk before they were completed, which he held would only be +for the purpose of their being garrisoned by the French king. His +'Full Discovery of the First Presbyterian Sham Plot' was published in +the same year; and from that time nothing further is known of Andrew +Yarranton. His name and his writings have been alike nearly +forgotten; and, though Bishop Watson declared of him that he deserved +to have a statue erected to his memory as a great public benefactor, +we do not know that he was so much as honoured with a tombstone; for +we have been unable, after careful inquiry, to discover when and +where he died. + +Yarranton was a man whose views were far in advance of his age. The +generation for whom he laboured and wrote were not ripe for their +reception and realization; and his voice sounded among the people +like that of one crying in the wilderness. But though his +exhortations to industry and his large plans of national improvement +failed to work themselves into realities in his own time, he broke +the ground, he sowed the seed, and it may be that even at this day we +are in some degree reaping the results of his labours. At all events, +his books still live to show how wise and sagacious Andrew Yarranton +was beyond his contemporaries as to the true methods of establishing +upon solid foundations the industrial prosperity of England. + + + +CHAPTER V. + +COALBROOKDALE IRON WORKS--THE DARBYS AND REYNOLDSES. + +"The triumph of the industrial arts will advance the cause of +civilization more rapidly than its warmest advocates could have +hoped, and contribute to the permanent prosperity and strength of the +country far move than the most splendid victories of successful +war.--C. BABBAGE, The Exposition of 1851. + + +Dud Dudley's invention of smelting iron with coke made of pit-coal +was, like many others, born before its time. It was neither +appreciated by the iron-masters nor by the workmen. All schemes for +smelting ore with any other fuel than charcoal made from wood were +regarded with incredulity. As for Dudley's Metallum Martis, as it +contained no specification, it revealed no secret; and when its +author died, his secret, whatever it might be, died with him. Other +improvements were doubtless necessary before the invention could be +turned to useful account. Thus, until a more powerful blowing-furace +had been contrived, the production of pit-coal iron must necessarily +have been limited. Dudley himself does not seem to have been able to +make more on an average than five tons a-week, and seven tons at the +outside. Nor was the iron so good as that made by charcoal; for it is +admitted to have been especially liable to deterioration by the +sulphureous fumes of the coal in the process of manufacture. + +Dr. Plot, in his 'History of Staffordshire,' speaks of an experiment +made by one Dr. Blewstone, a High German, as "the last effort" made +in that county to smelt iron-ore with pit-coal. He is said to have +"built his furnace at Wednesbury, so ingeniously contrived (that only +the flame of the coal should come to the ore, with several other +conveniences), that many were of opinion he would succeed in it. But +experience, that great baffler of speculation, showed it would not +be; the sulphureous vitriolic steams that issue from the pyrites, +which frequently, if not always, accompanies pit-coal, ascending with +the flame, and poisoning the ore sufficiently to make it render much +worse iron than that made with charcoal, though not perhaps so much +worse as the body of the coal itself would possibly do."* + [footnote... +Dr. PLOT, Natural History of Staffordshire, 2nd ed. 1686, p. 128. + ...] +Dr. Plot does not give the year in which this "last effort" was made; +but as we find that one Dr. Frederic de Blewston obtained a patent +from Charles II. on the 25th October, 1677, for "a new and effectual +way of melting down, forging, extracting, and reducing of iron and +all metals and minerals with pit-coal and sea-coal, as well and +effectually as ever hath yet been done by charcoal, and with much +less charge;" and as Dr. Plot's History, in which he makes mention +of the experiment and its failure, was published in 1686, it is +obvious that the trial must have been made between those years. + +As the demand for iron steadily increased with the increasing +population of the country, and as the supply of timber for smelting +purposes was diminishing from year to year, England was compelled to +rely more and more upon foreign countries for its supply of +manufactured iron. The number of English forges rapidly dwindled, and +the amount of the home production became insignificant in comparison +with what was imported from abroad. Yarranton, writing in 1676, +speaks of "the many iron-works laid down in Kent, Sussex, Surrey, and +in the north of England, because the iron of Sweadland, Flanders, and +Spain, coming in so cheap, it cannot be made to profit here." There +were many persons, indeed, who held that it was better we should be +supplied with iron from Spain than make it at home, in consequence of +the great waste of wood involved by the manufacture; but against this +view Yarranton strongly contended, and held, what is as true now as +it was then, that the manufacture of iron was the keystone of +England's industrial prosperity. He also apprehended great danger to +the country from want of iron in event of the contingency of a +foreign war. "When the greatest part of the iron-works are asleep," +said he, "if there should be occasion for great quantities of guns +and bullets, and other sorts of iron commodities, for a present +unexpected war, and the Sound happen to be locked up, and so prevent +iron coming to us, truly we should then be in a fine case!" + +Notwithstanding these apprehended national perils arising from the +want of iron, no steps seem to have been taken to supply the +deficiency, either by planting woods on a large scale, as recommended +by Yarranton, or by other methods; and the produce of English iron +continued steadily to decline. In 1720-30 there were found only ten +furnaces remaining in blast in the whole Forest of Dean, where the +iron-smelters were satisfied with working up merely the cinders left +by the Romans. A writer of the time states that we then bought +between two and three hundred thousand pounds' worth of foreign iron +yearly, and that England was the best customer in Europe for Swedish +and Russian iron.* + [footnote... +JOSHUA GEE, The Trade and Navigation of Great Britain considered, +1731. + ...] +By the middle of the eighteenth century the home manufacture had so +much fallen off, that the total production of Great Britain is +supposed to have amounted to not more than 18,000 tons a year; +four-fifths of the iron used in the country being imported from +Sweden.* + [footnote... +When a bill was introduced into Parliament in 1750 with the object of +encouraging the importation of iron from our American colonies, the +Sheffield tanners petitioned against it, on the ground that, if it +passed, English iron would be undersold; many forges would +consequently be discontinued; in which case the timber used for fuel +would remain uncut, and the tanners would thereby be deprived of bark +for the purposes of their trade! + ...] + +The more that the remaining ironmasters became straitened for want of +wood, the more they were compelled to resort to cinders and coke made +from coal as a substitute. And it was found that under certain +circumstances this fuel answered the purpose almost as well as +charcoal of wood. The coke was made by burning the coal in heaps in +the open air, and it was usually mixed with coal and peat in the +process of smelting the ore. Coal by itself was used by the country +smiths for forging whenever they could procure it for their smithy +fires; and in the midland counties they had it brought to them, +sometimes from great distances, slung in bags across horses' +backs,--for the state of the roads was then so execrable as not to +admit of its being led for any considerable distance in carts. At +length we arrive at a period when coal seems to have come into +general use, and when necessity led to its regular employment both in +smelting the ore and in manufacturing the metal. And this brings us +to the establishment of the Coalbrookdale works, where the smelting +of iron by means of coke and coal was first adopted on a large scale +as the regular method of manufacture. + +Abraham Darby, the first of a succession of iron manufacturers who +bore the same name, was the son of a farmer residing at Wrensnest, +near Dudley. He served an apprenticeship to a maker of malt-kilns +near Birmingham, after which he married and removed to Bristol in +1700, to begin business on his own account. Industry is of all +politics and religions: thus Dudley was a Royalist and a Churchman, +Yarranton was a Parliamentarian and a Presbyterian, and Abraham Darby +was a Quaker. At Bristol he was joined by three partners of the same +persuasion, who provided the necessary capital to enable him to set +up works at Baptist Mills, near that city, where he carried on the +business of malt-mill making, to which he afterwards added brass and +iron founding. + +At that period cast-iron pots were in very general use, forming the +principal cooking utensils of the working class. The art of casting +had, however, made such small progress in England that the pots were +for the most part imported from abroad. Darby resolved, if possible, +to enter upon this lucrative branch of manufacture; and he proceeded +to make a number of experiments in pot-making. Like others who had +preceded him, he made his first moulds of clay; but they cracked and +burst, and one trial failed after another. He then determined to find +out the true method of manufacturing the pots, by travelling into the +country from whence the best were imported, in order to master the +grand secret of the trade. With this object he went over to Holland +in the year 1706, and after diligent inquiry he ascertained that the +only sure method of casting "Hilton ware," as such castings were then +called, was in moulds of fine dry sand. This was the whole secret. + +Returning to Bristol, accompanied by some skilled Dutch workmen, +Darby began the new manufacture, and succeeded to his satisfaction. +The work was at first carried on with great secrecy, lest other +makers should copy the art; and the precaution was taken of stopping +the keyhole of the workshop-door while the casting was in progress. +To secure himself against piracy, he proceeded to take out a patent +for the process in the year 1708, and it was granted for the term of +fourteen years. The recital of the patent is curious, as showing the +backward state of English iron-founding at that time. It sets forth +that "whereas our trusty and well-beloved Abraham Darby, of our city +of Bristol, smith, hath by his petition humbly represented to us, +that by his study, industry, and expense, he hath found out and +brought to perfection a new way of casting iron bellied pots and +other iron bellied ware in sand only, without loam or clay, by which +such iron pots and other ware may be cast fine and with more ease and +expedition, and may be afforded cheaper than they can be by the way +commonly used; and in regard to their cheapness may be of great +advantage to the poor of this our kingdom, who for the most part use +such ware, and in all probability will prevent the merchants of +England going to foreign markets for such ware, from whence great +quantities are imported, and likewise may in time supply other +markets with that manufacture of our dominions," &c..... grants the +said Abraham Darby the full power and sole privilege to make and sell +such pots and ware for and during the term of fourteen years thence +ensuing." + +Darby proceeded to make arrangements for carrying on the manufacture +upon a large scale at the Baptist Mills; but the other partners +hesitated to embark more capital in the concern, and at length +refused their concurrence. Determined not to be baulked in his +enterprise, Darby abandoned the Bristol firm; and in the year 1709 he +removed to Coalbrookdale in Shropshire, with the intention of +prosecuting the enterprise on his own account. He took the lease of a +little furnace which had existed at the place for more than a +century, as the records exist of a "smethe" or "smeth-house" at +Coalbrookdale in the time of the Tudors. The woods of oak and hazel +which at that time filled the beautiful dingles of the dale, and +spread in almost a continuous forest to the base of the Wrekin, +furnished abundant fuel for the smithery. As the trade of the +Coalbrookdale firm extended, these woods became cleared, until the +same scarcity of fuel began to be experienced that had already +desolated the forests of Sussex, and brought the manufacture of iron +in that quarter to a stand-still. + +It appears from the 'Blast Furnace Memorandum Book' of Abraham Darby, +which we have examined, that the make of iron at the Coalbrookdale +foundry, in 1713, varied from five to ten tons a week. The principal +articles cast were pots, kettles, and other "hollow ware," direct +from the smelting-furnace; the rest of the metal was run into pigs. +In course of time we find that other castings were turned out: a few +grates, smoothing-irons, door-frames, weights, baking-plates, +cart-bushes, iron pestles and mortars, and occasionally a tailor's +goose. The trade gradually increased, until we find as many as 150 +pots and kettles cast in a week. + +The fuel used in the furnaces appears, from the Darby +Memorandum-Book, to have been at first entirely charcoal; but the +growing scarcity of wood seems to have gradually led to the use of +coke, brays or small coke, and peat. An abundance of coals existed in +the neighbourhood: by rejecting those of inferior quality, and coking +the others with great care, a combustible was obtained better fitted +even than charcoal itself for the fusion of that particular kind of +ore which is found in the coal-measures. Thus we find Darby's most +favourite charge for his furnaces to have been five baskets of coke, +two of brays, and one of peat; next followed the ore, and then the +limestone. The use of charcoal was gradually given up as the art of +smelting with coke and brays improved, most probably aided by the +increased power of the furnace-blast, until at length we find it +entirely discontinued. + +The castings of Coalbrookdale gradually acquired a reputation, and +the trade of Abraham Darby continued to increase until the date of +his death, which occurred at Madeley Court in 1717. His sons were too +young at the time to carry on the business which he had so +successfully started, and several portions of the works were sold at +a serious sacrifice. But when the sons had grown up to manhood, they +too entered upon the business of iron-founding; and Abraham Darby's +son and grandson, both of the same name, largely extended the +operations of the firm, until Coalbrookdale, or, as it was popularly +called, "Bedlam," became the principal seat of one of the most +important branches of the iron trade. + +There seems to be some doubt as to the precise time when pit-coal was +first regularly employed at Coalbrookdale in smelting the ore. Mr. +Scrivenor says, "pit-coal was first used by Mr. Abraham Darby, in his +furnace at Coalbrookdale, in 1713;"* + [footnote... +History of the Iron Trade, p. 56. + ...] +but we can find no confirmation of this statement in the records of +the Company. It is probable that Mr. Darby used raw coal, as was done +in the Forest of Dean at the same time,* + [footnote... +See Mr. Powle's account of the Iron Works in the Forest of Dean +(1677-8), in the Philosophical Transactions, vol. ii. p. 418, where +he says, "After they have pounded their ore, their first work is to +calcine it, which is done in kilns, much after the fashion of +ordinary lime-kilns, These they fill up to the top with coal and ore, +stratum super stratum, until it be full; and so setting fire to the +bottom, they let it burn till the coal be wasted, and then renew the +kilns with fresh ore and coal, in the same manner as before. This is +done without fusion of the metal, and serves to consume the more +drossy parts of the ore and to make it friable." The writer then +describes the process of smelting the ore mixed with cinder in the +furnaces, where, he says, the fuel is "always of charcoal." "Several +attempts," he adds, "have been made to introduce the use of sea-coal +in these works instead of charcoal, the former being to be had at an +easier rate than the latter; but hitherto they have proved +ineffectual, the workmen finding by experience that a sea-coal fire, +how vehement soever, will not penetrate the most fixed parts of the +ore, and so leaves much of the metal unmelted" + ...] +in the process of calcining the ore; but it would appear from his own +Memoranda that coke only was used in the process of smelting. We +infer from other circumstances that pit-coal was not employed for the +latter purpose until a considerably later period. The merit of its +introduction, and its successful use in iron-smelting, is due to Mr. +Richard Ford, who had married a daughter of Abraham Darby, and +managed the Coalbrookdale works in 1747. In a paper by the Rev. Mr. +Mason, Woodwardian Professor at Cambridge, given in the +'Philosophical Transactions' for that year,* + [footnote... +Phil. Trans. vol. xliv. 305. + ...] +the first account of its successful +employment is stated as follows: -- "Several attempts have been made +to run iron-ore with pit-coal: he (Mr.Mason) thinks it has not +succeeded anywhere, as we have had no account of its being practised; +but Mr. Ford, of Coalbrookdale in Shropshire, from iron-ore and coal, +both got in the same dale, makes iron brittle or tough as he pleases, +there being cannon thus cast so soft as to bear turning like +wrought-iron." Most probably, however, it was not until the time of +Richard Reynolds, who succeeded Abraham Darby the second in the +management of the works in 1757, that pit-coal came into large and +regular use in the blasting-furnaces as well as the fineries of +Coalbrookdale. + +Richard Reynolds was born at Bristol in 1735. His parents, like the +Darbys, belonged to the Society of Friends, and he was educated in +that persuasion. Being a spirited, lively youth, the "old Adam" +occasionally cropped out in him; and he is even said, when a young +man, to have been so much fired by the heroism of the soldier's +character that he felt a strong desire to embrace a military career; +but this feeling soon died out, and he dropped into the sober and +steady rut of the Society. After serving an apprenticeship in his +native town, he was sent to Coalbrookdale on a mission of business, +where he became acquainted with the Darby family, and shortly after +married Hannah, the daughter of Abraham the second. He then entered +upon the conduct of the iron and coal works at Ketley and Horsehay, +where he resided for six years, removing to Coalbrookdale in 1763, to +take charge of the works there, on the death of his father-in-law. + +By the exertions and enterprise of the Darbys, the Coalbrookdale +Works had become greatly enlarged, giving remunerative employment to +a large and increasing population. The firm had extended their +operations far beyond the boundaries of the Dale: they had +established foundries at London, Bristol, and Liverpool, and agencies +at Newcastle and Truro for the disposal of steam-engines and other +iron machinery used in the deep mines of those districts. Watt had +not yet perfected his steam-engine; but there was a considerable +demand for pumping-engines of Newcomen's construction, many of which +were made at the Coalbrookdale Works. The increasing demand for iron +gave an impetus to coal-mining, which in its turn stimulated +inventors in their improvement of the power of the steam-engine; for +the coal could not be worked quickly and advantageously unless the +pits could be kept clear of water. Thus one invention stimulates +another; and when the steam-engine had been perfected by Watt, and +enabled powerful-blowing apparatus to be worked by its agency, we +shall find that the production of iron by means of pit-coal being +rendered cheap and expeditious, soon became enormously increased. + +We are informed that it was while Richard Reynolds had charge of the +Coalbrookdale works that a further important improvement was effected +in the manufacture of iron by pit-coal. Up to this time the +conversion of crude or cast iron into malleable or bar iron had been +effected entirely by means of charcoal. The process was carried on in +a fire called a finery, somewhat like that of a smith's forge; the +iron being exposed to the blast of powerful bellows, and in constant +contact with the fuel. In the first process of fusing the ironstone, +coal had been used for some time with increasing success; but the +question arose, whether coal might not also be used with effect in +the second or refining stage. Two of the foremen, named Cranege, +suggested to Mr. Reynolds that this might be performed in what is +called a reverberatory furnace,* + [footnote... +Reverberatory, so called because the flame or current of heated gases +from the fuel is caused to be reverberated or reflected down upon the +substance under operation before passing into the chimney. It is +curious that Rovenson, in his Treatise of Metallica of 1613, +describes a reverberatory furnace in which iron was to be smelted by +pit-coal, though it does not appear that he succeeded in perfecting +his invention. Dr. Percy, in his excellent work on Metallurgy, thus +describes a reverberatory furnace: -- "It consists essentially of +three parts--a fireplace at one end, a stack or chimney at the other, +and a bed between both on which the matter is heated. The fireplace +is separated from the bed by a low partition wall called the +fire-bridge, and both are covered by an arched roof which rises from +the end wall of the fireplace and gradually dips toward the furthest +end of the bed connected with the stack. On one or both sides of the +bed, or at the end near the stack, may be openings through which the +ore spread over the surface of the bed may be stirred about and +exposed to the action of the air. The matter is heated in such a +furnace by flame, and is kept from contact with the solid fuel. The +flame in its course from the fireplace to the stack is reflected +downwards or REVERBERATED on the matter beneath, whence the name +REVERBERATORY furnace." + ...] +in which the iron should not mix with the coal, but be heated solely +by the flame. Mr. Reynolds greatly doubted the feasibility of the +operation, but he authorized the Cranege, to make an experiment of +their process, the result of which will be found described in the +following extract of a letter from Mr. Reynolds to Mr. Thomas Goldney +of Bristol, dated "Coalbrookdale, 25th April, 1766 ": -- + +.... "I come now to what I think a matter of very great consequence. +It is some time since Thos. Cranege, who works at Bridgenorth Forge, +and his brother George, of the Dale, spoke to me about a notion they +had conceived of making bar iron without wood charcoal. I told them, +consistent with the notion I had adopted in common with all others I +had conversed with, that I thought it impossible, because the +vegetable salts in the charcoal being an alkali acted as an absorbent +to the sulphur of the iron, which occasions the red-short quality of +the iron, and pit coal abounding with sulphur would increase it. This +specious answer, which would probably have appeared conclusive to +most, and which indeed was what I really thought, was not so to them. +They replied that from the observations they had made, and repeated +conversations together, they were both firmly of opinion that the +alteration from the quality of pig iron into that of bar iron was +effected merely by heat, and if I would give them leave, they would +make a trial some day. I consented, but, I confess, without any great +expectation of their success; and so the matter rested some weeks, +when it happening that some repairs had to be done at Bridgenorth, +Thomas came up to the Dale, and, with his brother, made a trial in +Thos. Tilly's air-furnace with such success as I thought would +justify the erection of a small air-furnace at the Forge for the more +perfectly ascertaining the merit of the invention. This was +accordingly done, and a trial of it has been made this week, and the +success has surpassed the most sanguine expectations. The iron put +into the furnace was old Bushes, which thou knowest are always made +of hard iron, and the iron drawn out is the toughest I ever saw. A +bar 1 1/4 inch square, when broke, appears to have very little cold +short in it. I look upon it as one of the most important discoveries +ever made, and take the liberty of recommending thee and earnestly +requesting thou wouldst take out a patent for it immediately.... The +specification of the invention will be comprised in a few words, as +it will only set forth that a reverberatory furnace being built of a +proper construction, the pig or cast iron is put into it, and without +the addition of anything else than common raw pit coal, is converted +into good malleable iron, and, being taken red-hot from the +reverberatory furnace to the forge hammer, is drawn out into bars of +various shapes and sizes, according to the will of the workmen." + +Mr. Reynolds's advice was implicitly followed. A patent was secured +in the name of the brothers Cranege, dated the 17th June, 1766; and +the identical words in the above letter were adopted in the +specification as descriptive of the process. By this method of +puddling, as it is termed, the manufacturer was thenceforward enabled +to produce iron in increased quantity at a large reduction in price; +and though the invention of the Craneges was greatly improved upon by +Onions, and subsequently by Cort, there can be no doubt as to the +originality and the importance of their invention. Mr. Tylor states +that he was informed by the son of Richard Reynolds that the wrought +iron made at Coalbrookdale by the Cranege process "was very good, +quite tough, and broke with a long, bright, fibrous fracture: that +made by Cort afterwards was quite different."* + [footnote... +Mr. TYLOR on Metal Work--Reports on the Paris Exhibition of 1855. +Part II. 182. We are informed by Mr. Reynolds of Coed-du, a grandson +of Richard Reynolds, that "on further trials many difficulties arose. +The bottoms of the furnaces were destroyed by the heat, and the +quality of the iron varied. Still, by a letter dated May, 1767, it +appears there had been sold of iron made in the new way to the value +of 247L. 14s. 6d." + ...] +Though Mr. Reynolds's generosity to the Craneges is apparent; in the +course which he adopted in securing for them a patent for the +invention in their own names, it does not appear to have proved of +much advantage to them; and they failed to rise above the rank which +they occupied when their valuable discovery was patented. This, +however, was no fault of Richard Reynolds, but was mainly +attributable to the circumstance of other inventions in a great +measure superseding their process, and depriving them of the benefits +of their ingenuity. + +Among the important improvements introduced by Mr. Reynolds while +managing the Coalbrookdale Works, was the adoption by him for the +first time of iron instead of wooden rails in the tram-roads along +which coal and iron were conveyed from one part of the works to +another, as well as to the loading-places along the river Severn. He +observed that the wooden rails soon became decayed, besides being +liable to be broken by the heavy loads passing over them, occasioning +much loss of time, interruption to business, and heavy expenses in +repairs. It occurred to him that these inconveniences would be +obviated by the use of rails of cast-iron; and, having tried an +experiment with them, it answered so well, that in 1767 the whole of +the wooden rails were taken up and replaced by rails of iron. Thus +was the era of iron railroads fairly initiated at Coalbrookdale, and +the example of Mr. Reynolds was shortly after followed on all the +tramroads throughout the Country. + +It is also worthy of note that the first iron bridge ever erected was +cast and made at the Coalbrookdale Works--its projection as well as +its erection being mainly due to the skill and enterprise of Abraham +Darby the third. When but a young man, he showed indications of that +sagacity and energy in business which seemed to be hereditary in his +family. One of the first things he did on arriving at man's estate +was to set on foot a scheme for throwing a bridge across the Severn +at Coalbrookdale, at a point where the banks were steep and slippery, +to accommodate the large population which had sprung up along both +banks of the river. There were now thriving iron, brick, and pottery +works established in the parishes of Madeley and Broseley; and the +old ferry on the Severn was found altogether inadequate for ready +communication between one bank and the other. The want of a bridge +had long been felt, and a plan of one had been prepared during the +life time of Abraham Darby the second; but the project was suspended +at his death. When his son came of age, he resolved to take up his +father's dropped scheme, and prosecute it to completion, which he +did. Young Mr. Darby became lord of the manor of Madeley in 1776, and +was the owner of one-half of the ferry in right of his lordship. He +was so fortunate as to find the owner of the other or Broseley half +of the ferry equally anxious with himself to connect the two banks of +the river by means of a bridge. The necessary powers were accordingly +obtained from Parliament, and a bridge was authorized to be built "of +cast-iron, stone, brick, or timber." A company was formed for the +purpose of carrying out the project, and the shares were taken by the +adjoining owners, Abraham Darby being the principal subscriber.* + [footnote... +Among the other subscribers were the Rev. Mr. Harris, Mr. Jennings, +and Mr. John Wilkinson, an active promoter of the scheme, who gave +the company the benefit of his skill and experience when it was +determined to construct the bridge of iron. For an account of John +Wilkinson see Lives of the Engineers, vol. ii. 337, 356. In the +description of the first iron bridge given in that work we have, it +appears, attributed rather more credit to Mr. Wilkinson than he is +entitled to. Mr. Darby was the most active promoter of the scheme, +and had the principal share in the design. Wilkinson nevertheless was +a man of great energy and originality. Besides being the builder of +the first iron ship, he was the first to invent, for James Watt, a +machine that would bore a tolerably true cylinder. He afterwards +established iron works in France, and Arthur Young says, that "until +that well-known English manufacturer arrived, the French knew nothing +of the art of casting cannon solid and then boring them" (Travels in +France, 4to. ed. London, 1792, p.90). Yet England had borrowed her +first cannon-maker from France in the person of Peter Baude, as +described in chap. iii. Wilkinson is also said to have invented a +kind of hot-blast, in respect of which various witnesses gave +evidence on the trial of Neilson's patent in 1839; but the invention +does not appear to have been perfected by him. + ...] + +The construction of a bridge of iron was an entirely new idea. An +attempt had indeed been made at Lyons, in France, to construct such a +bridge more than twenty years before; but it had entirely failed, and +a bridge of timber was erected instead. It is not known whether the +Coalbrookdale masters had heard of that attempt; but, even if they +had, it could have been of no practical use to them. + +Mr. Pritchard, an architect of Shrewsbury, was first employed to +prepare a design of the intended structure, which is still preserved. +Although Mr. Pritchard proposed to introduce cast-iron in the arch of +the bridge, which was to be of 120 feet span, it was only as a sort +of key, occupying but a few feet at the crown of the arch. This +sparing use of cast iron indicates the timidity of the architect in +dealing with the new material--his plan exhibiting a desire to effect +a compromise between the tried and the untried in +bridge-construction. But the use of iron to so limited an extent, and +in such a part of the structure, was of more than questionable +utility; and if Mr. Pritchard's plan had been adopted, the problem of +the iron bridge would still have remained unsolved. + +The plan, however, after having been duly considered, was eventually +set aside, and another, with the entire arch of cast-iron, was +prepared under the superintendence of Abraham Darby, by Mr. Thomas +Gregory, his foreman of pattem-makers. This plan was adopted, and +arrangements were forthwith made for carrying it into effect. The +abutments of the bridge were built in 1777-8, during which the +castings were made at the foundry, and the ironwork was successfully +erected in the course of three months. The bridge was opened for +traffic in 1779, and proved a most serviceable structure. In 1788 the +Society of Arts recognised Mr. Darby's merit as its designer and +erector by presenting him with their gold medal; and the model of the +bridge is still to be seen in the collection of the Society. Mr. +Robert Stephenson has said of the structure: " If we consider that +the manipulation of cast-iron was then completely in its infancy, a +bridge of such dimensions was doubtless a bold as well as an original +undertaking, and the efficiency of the details is worthy of the +boldness of the conception."* + [footnote... +Encyclopaedia Britannica, 8th ed. Art. "Iron Bridges." + ...] +Mr. Stephenson adds that from a defect in the construction the +abutments were thrust inwards at the approaches and the ribs +partially fractured. We are, however, informed that this is a +mistake, though it does appear that the apprehension at one time +existed that such an accident might possibly occur. + +To remedy the supposed defect, two small land arches were, in the +year 1800, substituted for the stone approach on the Broseley side of +the bridge. While the work was in progress, Mr. Telford, the +well-known engineer, carefully examined the bridge, and thus spoke of +its condition at the time: -- "The great improvement of erecting upon +a navigable river a bridge of cast-iron of one arch only was first +put in practice near Coalbrookdale. The bridge was executed in 1777 +by Mr. Abraham Darby, and the ironwork is now quite as perfect as +when it was first put up. Drawings of this bridge have long been +before the public, and have been much and justly admired."* + [footnote... +PLYMLEY, General View of the Agriculture of Shropshire. + ...] +A Coalbrookdale correspondent, writing in May, 1862, informs us that +"at the present time the bridge is undergoing repair; and, special +examination having been made, there is no appearance either that the +abutments have moved, or that the ribs have been broken in the centre +or are out of their proper right line. There has, it is true, been a +strain on the land arches, and on the roadway plates, which, however, +the main arch has been able effectually to resist." + +The bridge has now been in profitable daily use for upwards of eighty +years, and has during that time proved of the greatest convenience to +the population of the district. So judicious was the selection of its +site, and so great its utility, that a thriving town of the name of +Ironbridge has grown up around it upon what, at the time of its +erection, was a nameless part of "the waste of the manor of Madeley." +And it is probable that the bridge will last for centuries to come. +Thus, also, was the use of iron as an important material in +bridge-building fairly initiated at Coalbrookdale by Abraham Darby, +as the use of iron rails was by Richard Reynolds. We need scarcely +add that since the invention and extensive adoption of railway +locomotion, the employment of iron in various forms in railway and +bridge structures has rapidly increased, until iron has come to be +regarded as the very sheet-anchor of the railway engineer. + +In the mean time the works at Coalbrookdale had become largely +extended. In 1784, when the government of the day proposed to levy a +tax on pit-coal, Richard Reynolds strongly urged upon Mr. Pitt, then +Chancellor of the Exchequer, as well as on Lord Gower, afterwards +Marquis of Stafford, the impolicy of such a tax. To the latter he +represented that large capitals had been invested in the iron trade, +which was with difficulty carried on in the face of the competition +with Swedish and Russian iron. At Coalbrookdale, sixteen "fire +engines," as steam engines were first called, were then at work, +eight blast-furnaces and nine forges, besides the air furnaces and +mills at the foundry, which, with the levels, roads, and more than +twenty miles of iron railways, gave employment to a very large number +of people. "The advancement of the iron trade within these few +years," said he, "has been prodigious. It was thought, and justly, +that the making of pig-iron with pit coal was a great acquisition to +the country by saving the wood and supplying a material to +manufactures, the production of which, by the consumption of all the +wood the country produced, was formerly unequal to the demand, and +the nail trade, perhaps the most considerable of any one article of +manufactured iron, would have been lost to this country had it not +been found practicable to make nails of iron made with pit coal. We +have now another process to attempt, and that is to make BAR IRON +with pit coal; and it is for that purpose we have made, or rather are +making, alterations at Donnington Wood, Ketley, and elsewhere, which +we expect to complete in the present year, but not at a less expense +than twenty thousand pounds, which will be lost to us, and gained by +nobody, if this tax is laid upon our coals." He would not, however, +have it understood that he sought for any PROTECTION for the homemade +iron, notwithstanding the lower prices of the foreign article. "From +its most imperfect state as pig-iron," he observed to Lord Sheffield, +"to its highest finish in the regulating springs of a watch, we have +nothing to fear if the importation into each country should be +permitted without duty." We need scarcely add that the subsequent +history of the iron trade abundantly justified these sagacious +anticipations of Richard Reynolds. + +He was now far advanced in years. His business had prospered, his +means were ample, and he sought retirement. He did not desire to +possess great wealth, which in his opinion entailed such serious +responsibilities upon its possessor; and he held that the +accumulation of large property was more to be deprecated than +desired. He therefore determined to give up his shares in the +ironworks at Ketley to his sons William and Joseph, who continued to +carry them on. William was a man of eminent ability, well versed in +science, and an excellent mechanic. He introduced great improvements +in the working of the coal and iron mines, employing new machinery +for the purpose, and availing himself with much ingenuity of the +discoveries then being made in the science of chemistry. He was also +an inventor, having been the first to employ (in 1788) inclined +planes, consisting of parallel railways, to connect and work canals +of different levels,--an invention erroneously attributed to Fulton, +but which the latter himself acknowledged to belong to William +Reynolds. In the first chapter of his 'Treatise on Canal Navigation,' +published in 1796, Fulton says: -- "As local prejudices opposed the +Duke of Bridgewater's canal in the first instance, prejudices equally +strong as firmly adhered to the principle on which it was +constructed; and it was thought impossible to lead one through a +country, or to work it to any advantage, unless by locks and boats of +at least twenty-five tons, till the genius of Mr. William Reynolds, +of Ketley, in Shropshire, stepped from the accustomed path, +constructed the first inclined plane, and introduced boats of five +tons. This, like the Duke's canal, was deemed a visionary project, +and particularly by his Grace, who was partial to locks; yet this is +also introduced into practice, and will in many instances supersede +lock canals." Telford, the engineer, also gracefully acknowledged the +valuable assistance he received from William Reynolds in planning the +iron aqueduct by means of which the Ellesmere Canal was carried over +the Pont Cysylltau, and in executing the necessary castings for the +purpose at the Ketley foundry. + +The future management of his extensive ironworks being thus placed in +able hands, Richard Reynolds finally left Coalbrookdale in 1804, for +Bristol, his native town, where he spent the remainder of his life in +works of charity and mercy. Here we might leave the subject, but +cannot refrain from adding a few concluding words as to the moral +characteristics of this truly good man. Though habitually religious, +he was neither demure nor morose, but cheerful, gay, and humorous. He +took great interest in the pleasures of the young people about him, +and exerted himself in all ways to promote their happiness. He was +fond of books, pictures, poetry, and music, though the indulgence of +artistic tastes is not thought becoming in the Society to which he +belonged. His love for the beauties of nature amounted almost to a +passion, and when living at The Bank, near Ketley, it was his great +delight in the summer evenings to retire with his pipe to a rural +seat commanding a full view of the Wrekin, the Ercall Woods, with +Cader Idris and the Montgomeryshire hills in the distance, and watch +the sun go down in the west in his glory. Once in every year he +assembled a large party to spend a day with him on the Wrekin, and +amongst those invited were the principal clerks in the company's +employment, together with their families. At Madeley, near +Coalbrookdale, where he bought a property, he laid out, for the +express use of the workmen, extensive walks through the woods on +Lincoln Hill, commanding beautiful views. They were called "The +Workmen's Walks," and were a source of great enjoyment to them and +their families, especially on Sunday afternoons. + +When Mr. Reynolds went to London on business, he was accustomed to +make a round of visits, on his way home, to places remarkable for +their picturesque beauty, such as Stowe, Hagley Park, and the +Leasowes. After a visit to the latter place in 1767, he thus, in a +letter to his friend John Maccappen, vindicated his love for the +beautiful in nature: -- "I think it not only lawful but expedient to +cultivate a disposition to be pleased with the beauties of nature, by +frequent indulgences for that purpose. The mind, by being continually +applied to the consideration of ways and means to gain money, +contracts an indifferency if not an insensibility to the profusion of +beauties which the benevolent Creator has impressed upon every part +of the material creation. A sordid love of gold, the possession of +what gold can purchase, and the reputation of being rich, have so +depraved the finer feelings of some men, that they pass through the +most delightful grove, filled with the melody of nature, or listen to +the murmurings of the brook in the valley, with as little pleasure +and with no more of the vernal delight which Milton describes, than +they feel in passing through some obscure alley in a town." + +When in the prime of life, Mr. Reynolds was an excellent rider, +performing all his journeys on horseback. He used to give a ludicrous +account of a race he once ran with another youth, each having a lady +seated on a pillion behind him; Mr. Reynolds reached the goal first, +but when he looked round he found that he had lost his fair +companion, who had fallen off in the race! On another occasion he had +a hard run with Lord Thurlow during a visit paid by the latter to the +Ketley Iron-Works. Lord Thurlow pulled up his horse first, and +observed, laughing, "I think, Mr. Reynolds, this is probably the +first time that ever a Lord Chancellor rode a race with a Quaker!" +But a stranger rencontre was one which befel Mr. Reynolds on +Blackheath. Though he declined Government orders for cannon, he seems +to have had a secret hankering after the "pomp and circumstance" of +military life. At all event's he was present on Blackheath one day +when George III. was reviewing some troops. Mr. Reynold's horse, an +old trooper, no sooner heard the sound of the trumpet than he started +off at full speed, and made directly for the group of officers before +whom the troops were defiling. Great was the surprise of the King +when he saw the Quaker draw up alongside of him, but still greater, +perhaps, was the confusion of the Quaker at finding himself in such +company. + +During the later years of his life, while living at Bristol, his hand +was in every good work; and it was often felt where it was not seen. +For he carefully avoided ostentation, and preferred doing his good in +secret. He strongly disapproved of making charitable bequests by +will, which he observed in many cases to have been the foundation of +enormous abuses, but held it to be the duty of each man to do all the +possible good that he could during his lifetime. Many were the +instances of his princely, though at the time unknown, munificence. +Unwilling to be recognised as the giver of large sums, he employed +agents to dispense his anonymous benefactions. He thus sent 20,000L. +to London to be distributed during the distress of 1795. He had four +almoners constantly employed in Bristol, finding out cases of +distress, relieving them, and presenting their accounts to him +weekly, with details of the cases relieved. He searched the debtors' +prisons, and where, as often happened, deserving but unfortunate men +were found confined for debt, he paid the claims against them and +procured their release. Such a man could not fail to be followed with +blessings and gratitude; but these he sought to direct to the Giver +of all Good. "My talent," said he to a friend, "is the meanest of all +talents--a little sordid dust; but as the man in the parable who had +but one talent was held accountable, I also am accountable for the +talent that I possess, humble as it is, to the great Lord of all." On +one occasion the case of a poor orphan boy was submitted to him, +whose parents, both dying young, had left him destitute, on which Mr. +Reynolds generously offered to place a sum in the names of trustees +for his education and maintenance until he could be apprenticed to a +business. The lady who represented the case was so overpowered by the +munificence of the act that she burst into tears, and, struggling to +express her gratitude, concluded with--"and when the dear child is +old enough, I will teach him to thank his benefactor." "Thou must +teach him to look higher," interrupted Reynolds: "Do we thank the +clouds for rain? When the child grows up, teach him to thank Him who +sendeth both the clouds and the rain." Reynolds himself deplored his +infirmity of temper, which was by nature hasty; and, as his +benevolence was known, and appeals were made to him at all times, +seasonable and unseasonable, he sometimes met them with a sharp word, +which, however, he had scarcely uttered before he repented of it: and +he is known to have followed a poor woman to her home and ask +forgiveness for having spoken hastily in answer to her application +for help. + +This "great good man" died on the l0th of September, 1816, in the +81st year of his age. At his funeral the poor of Bristol were the +chief mourners. The children of the benevolent societies which he had +munificently supported during his lifetime, and some of which he had +founded, followed his body to the grave. The procession was joined by +the clergy and ministers of all denominations, and by men of all +classes and persuasions. And thus was Richard Reynolds laid to his +rest, leaving behind him a name full of good odour, which will long +be held in grateful remembrance by the inhabitants of Bristol. + + +CHAPTER VI. + +INVENTION OF CAST STEEL--BENJAMIN HUNTSMAN. + +"It may be averred that as certainly as the age of iron superseded +that of bronze, so will the age of steel reign triumphant over +iron."-- HENRY BESSEMER. + +"Aujourd'hui la revolution que devait amener en Grande-Bretagne la +memorable decouverte de Benjamin Huntsman est tout a fait +accomplie, et chaque jour les consequetces sen feront plus vivement +sentir sur le confinent."--LE PLAY, Sur la Fabricatio n de l' Acier +en Yorkshire. + + +Iron, besides being used in various forms as bar and cast iron, is +also used in various forms as bar and cast steel; and it is +principally because of its many admirable qualities in these latter +forms that iron maintains its supremacy over all the other metals. + +The process of converting iron into steel had long been known among +the Eastern nations before it was introduced into Europe. The Hindoos +were especially skilled in the art of making steel, as indeed they +are to this day; and it is supposed that the tools with which the +Egyptians covered their obelisks and temples of porphyry and syenite +with hieroglyphics were made of Indian steel, as probably no other +metal was capable of executing such work. The art seems to have been +well known in Germany in the Middle Ages, and the process is on the +whole very faithfully described by Agricola in his great work on +Metallurgy.* + [footnote... +AGRICOLA, De Re Metallica. Basle, 1621. + ...] +England then produced very little steel, and was mainly dependent for +its supply of the article upon the continental makers. + +From an early period Sheffield became distinguished for its +manufacture of iron and steel into various useful articles. We find +it mentioned in the thirteenth century as a place where the best +arrowheads were made,--the Earl of Richmond owing his success at the +battle of Bosworth partly to their superior length, sharpness, and +finish. The manufactures of the town became of a more pacific +character in the following centuries, during which knives, tools, and +implements of husbandry became the leading articles. + +Chaucer's reference to the 'Sheffield thwytel' (or case-knife) in his +Canterbury Tales, written about the end of the fourteenth century, +shows that the place had then become known for its manufacture of +knives. In 1575 we find the Earl of Shrewsbury presenting to his +friend Lord Burleigh "a case of Hallamshire whittells, being such +fruites as his pore cuntrey affordeth with fame throughout the +realme." Fuller afterwards speaks of the Sheffield knives as "for +common use of the country people," and he cites an instance of a +knave who cozened him out of fourpence for one when it was only worth +a penny. + +In 1600 Sheffield became celebrated for its tobacco-boxes and +Jew's-harps. The town was as yet of small size and population; for +when a survey of it was made in 1615 it was found to contain not more +than 2207 householders, of whom one-third, or 725, were "not able to +live without the charity of their neighbours: these are all Begging +poor."* + [footnote... +The Rev. JOSEPH HUNTER, History of Hallamshire. + ...] +It must, however, have continued its manufacture of knives; for we +find that the knife with which Felton stabbed the Duke of Buckingham +at Portsmouth in 1628 was traced to Sheffield. The knife was left +sticking in the duke's body, and when examined was found to bear the +Sheffield corporation mark. It was ultimately ascertained to have +been made by one Wild, a cutler, who had sold the knife for tenpence +to Felton when recruiting in the town. At a still later period, the +manufacture of clasp or spring knives was introduced into Sheffield +by Flemish workmen. Harrison says this trade was begun in 1650. The +clasp-knife was commonly known in the North as a jocteleg. Hence +Burns, describing the famous article treasured by Captain Grose the +antiquarian, says that-- + + "It was a faulding jocteleq, + Or lang-kail gully;" + +the word being merely a corruption of Jacques de Liege, a famous +foreign cutler, whose knives were as well known throughout Europe as +those of Rogers or Mappin are now. Scythes and sickles formed other +branches of manufacture introduced by the Flemish artisans, the +makers of the former principally living in the parish of Norton, +those of the latter in Eckington. + +Many improvements were introduced from time to time in the material +of which these articles were made. Instead of importing the German +steel, as it was called, the Sheffield manufacturers began to make it +themselves, principally from Dannemora iron imported from Sweden. The +first English manufacturer of the article was one Crowley, a +Newcastle man; and the Sheffield makers shortly followed his example. +We may here briefly state that the ordinary method of preparing this +valuable material of manufactures is by exposing iron bars, placed in +contact with roughly-granulated charcoal, to an intense heat,--the +process lasting for about a week, more or less, according to the +degree of carbonization required. By this means, what is called +BLISTERED STEEL is produced, and it furnishes the material out of +which razors, files, knives, swords, and various articles of hardware +are manufactured. A further process is the manufacture of the metal +thus treated into SHEAR STEEL, by exposing a fasciculus of the +blistered steel rods, with sand scattered over them for the purposes +of a flux, to the heat of a wind-furnace until the whole mass becomes +of a welding heat, when it is taken from the fire and drawn out under +a forge-hammer,--the process of welding being repeated, after which +the steel is reduced to the required sizes. The article called FAGGOT +steel is made after a somewhat similar process. + +But the most valuable form in which steel is now used in the +manufactures of Sheffield is that of cast-steel, in which iron is +presented in perhaps its very highest state of perfection. Cast-steel +consists of iron united to carbon in an elastic state together with a +small portion of oxygen; whereas crude or pig iron consists of iron +combined with carbon in a material state.* + [footnote... +MUSHET, Papers On Iron and Steel. + ...] +chief merits of cast-steel consist in its possessing great cohesion +and closeness of grain, with an astonishing degree of tenacity and +flexibility,-- qualities which render it of the highest value in all +kinds of tools and instruments where durability, polish, and fineness +of edge are essential requisites. It is to this material that we are +mainly indebted for the exquisite cutting instrument of the surgeon, +the chisel of the sculptor, the steel plate on which the engraver +practises his art, the cutting tools employed in the various +processes of skilled handicraft, down to the common saw or the axe +used by the backwoodsman in levelling the primeval forest. + +The invention of cast-steel is due to Benjamin Huntsman, of +Attercliffe, near Sheffield. M. Le Play, Professor of Metallurgy in +the Royal School of Mines of France, after making careful inquiry and +weighing all the evidence on the subject, arrived at the conclusion +that the invention fairly belongs to Huntsman. The French professor +speaks of it as a "memorable discovery," made and applied with +admirable perseverance; and he claims for its inventor the +distinguished merit of advancing the steel manufactures of Yorkshire +to the first rank, and powerfully contributing to the establishment +on a firm foundation of the industrial and commercial supremacy of +Great Britain. It is remarkable that a French writer should have been +among the first to direct public attention to the merits of this +inventor, and to have first published the few facts known as to his +history in a French Government Report,--showing the neglect which men +of this class have heretofore received at home, and the much greater +esteem in which they are held by scientific foreigners.* + [footnote... +M. Le Play's two elaborate and admirable reports on the manufacture +of steel, published in the Annales des Mines, vols. iii. and ix., 4th +series, are unique of their kind, and have as yet no counterpart in +English literature. They are respectively entitled 'Memoire sur la +Fabrication de l'Acier en Yorkshire,' and 'Memoire sur le +Fabrication et le Commerce des Fers a Acier dans le Nord de +l'Europe.' + ...] +Le Play, in his enthusiastic admiration of the discoverer of so +potent a metal as cast-steel, paid a visit to Huntsman's grave in +Atterclifle Churchyard, near Sheffield, and from the inscription on +his tombstone recites the facts of his birth, his death, and his +brief history. With the assistance of his descendants, we are now +enabled to add the following record of the life and labours of this +remarkable but almost forgotten man. + +Benjamin Huntsman was born in Lincolnshire in the year 1704. His +parents were of German extraction, and had settled in this country +only a few years previous to his birth. The boy being of an ingenious +turn, was bred to a mechanical calling; and becoming celebrated for +his expertness in repairing clocks, he eventually set up in business +as a clock maker and mender in the town of Doncaster. He also +undertook various other kinds of metal work, such as the making and +repairing of locks, smoke-jacks, roasting-jacks, and other articles +requiring mechanical skill. He was remarkably shrewd, observant, +thoughtful, and practical; so much so that he came to be regarded as +the "wise man" of his neighbourhood, and was not only consulted as to +the repairs of machinery, but also of the human frame. He practised +surgery with dexterity, though after an empirical fashion, and was +held in especial esteem as an oculist. His success was such that his +advice was sought in many surgical diseases, and he was always ready +to give it, but declined receiving any payment in return. + +In the exercise of his mechanical calling, he introduced several +improved tools, but was much hindered by the inferior quality of the +metal supplied to him, which was common German steel. He also +experienced considerable difficulty in finding a material suitable +for the springs and pendulums of his clocks. These circumstances +induced him to turn his attention to the making of a better kind of +steel than was then procurable, for the purposes of his trade. His +first experiments were conducted at Doncaster;* + [footnote... +There are several clocks still in existence in the neighbourhood of +Doncaster made by Benjamin Huntsman; and there is one in the +possession of his grandson, with a pendulum made of cast-steel. The +manufacture of a pendulum of such a material at that early date is +certainly curious; its still perfect spring and elasticity showing +the scrupulous care with which it had been made. + ...] +but as fuel was difficult to be had at that place, he determined, for +greater convenience, to remove to the neighbourhood of Sheffield, +which he did in 1740. He first settled at Handsworth, a few miles to +the south of that town, and there pursued his investigations in +secret. Unfortunately, no records have been preserved of the methods +which he adopted in overcoming the difficulties he had necessarily to +encounter. That they must have been great is certain, for the process +of manufacturing cast-steel of a first-rate quality even at this day +is of a most elaborate and delicate character, requiring to be +carefully watched in its various stages. He had not only to discover +the fuel and flux suitable for his purpose, but to build such a +furnace and make such a crucible as should sustain a heat more +intense than any then known in metallurgy. Ingot-moulds had not yet +been cast, nor were there hoops and wedges made that would hold them +together, nor, in short, were any of those materials at his disposal +which are now so familiar at every melting-furnace. + +Huntsman's experiments extended over many years before the desired +result was achieved. Long after his death, the memorials of the +numerous failures through which he toilsomely worked his way to +success, were brought to light in the shape of many hundredweights of +steel, found buried in the earth in different places about his +manufactory. From the number of these wrecks of early experiments, it +is clear that he had worked continuously upon his grand idea of +purifying the raw steel then in use, by melting it with fluxes at an +intense heat in closed earthen crucibles. The buried masses were +found in various stages of failure, arising from imperfect melting, +breaking of crucibles, and bad fluxes; and had been hid away as so +much spoiled steel of which nothing could be made. At last his +perseverance was rewarded, and his invention perfected; and though a +hundred years have passed since Huntsman's discovery, the description +of fuel (coke) which he first applied for the purpose of melting the +steel, and the crucibles and furnaces which he used, are for the most +part similar to those in use at the present day. Although the making +of cast-steel is conducted with greater economy and dexterity, owing +to increased experience, it is questionable whether any maker has +since been able to surpass the quality of Huntsman's manufacture. + +The process of making cast-steel, as invented by Benjamin Huntsman, +may be thus summarily described. The melting is conducted in clay +pots or crucibles manufactured for the purpose, capable of holding +about 34 lbs. each. Ten or twelve of such crucibles are placed in a +melting-furnace similar to that used by brass founders; and when the +furnace and pots are at a white heat, to which they are raised by a +coke fire, they are charged with bar steel reduced to a certain +degree of hardness, and broken into pieces of about a pound each. +When the pots are all thus charged with steel, lids are placed over +them, the furnace is filled with coke, and the cover put down. Under +the intense heat to which the metal is exposed, it undergoes an +apparent ebullition. When the furnace requires feeding, the workmen +take the opportunity of lifting the lid of each crucible and judging +how far the process has advanced. After about three hours' exposure +to the heat, the metal is ready for "teeming." The completion of the +melting process is known by the subsidence of all ebullition, and by +the clear surface of the melted metal, which is of a dazzling +brilliancy like the sun when looked at with the naked eye on a clear +day. The pots are then lifted out of their place, and the liquid +steel is poured into ingots of the shape and size required. The pots +are replaced, filled again, and the process is repeated; the red-hot +pots thus serving for three successive charges, after which they are +rejected as useless. + +When Huntsman had perfected his invention, it would naturally occur +to him that the new metal might be employed for other purposes +besides clock-springs and pendulums. The business of clock-making was +then of a very limited character, and it could scarcely have been +worth his while to pursue so extensive and costly a series of +experiments merely to supply the requirements of that trade. It is +more probable that at an early stage of his investigations he +shrewdly foresaw the extensive uses to which cast-steel might be +applied in the manufacture of tools and cutlery of a superior kind; +and we accordingly find him early endeavouring to persuade the +manufacturers of Sheffield to employ it in the manufacture of knives +and razors. But the cutlers obstinately refused to work a material so +much harder than that which they had been accustomed to use; and for +a time he gave up all hopes of creating a demand in that quarter. +Foiled in his endeavours to sell his steel at home, Huntsman turned +his attention to foreign markets; and he soon found he could readily +sell abroad all that he could make. The merit of employing cast-steel +for general purposes belongs to the French, always so quick to +appreciate the advantages of any new discovery, and for a time the +whole of the cast-steel that Huntsman could manufacture was exported +to France. When he had fairly established his business with that +country, the Sheffield cutlers became alarmed at the reputation which +cast-steel was acquiring abroad; and when they heard of the +preference displayed by English as well as French consumers for the +cutlery manufactured of that metal, they readily apprehended the +serious consequences that must necessarily result to their own trade +if cast-steel came into general use. They then appointed a deputation +to wait upon Sir George Savile, one of the members for the county of +York, and requested him to use his influence with the government to +obtain an order to prohibit the exportation of cast-steel. But on +learning from the deputation that the Sheffield manufacturers +themselves would not make use of the new steel, he positively +declined to comply with their request. It was indeed fortunate for +the interests of the town that the object of the deputation was +defeated, for at that time Mr. Huntsman had very pressing and +favourable offers from some spirited manufacturers in Birmingham to +remove his furnaces to that place; and it is extremely probable that +had the business of cast-steel making become established there, one +of the most important and lucrative branches of its trade would have +been lost to the town of Sheffield. + +The Sheffield makers were therefore under the necessity of using the +cast-steel, if they would retain their trade in cutlery against +France; and Huntsman's home trade rapidly increased. And then began +the efforts of the Sheffield men to wrest his secret from him. For +Huntsman had not taken out any patent for his invention, his only +protection being in preserving his process as much a mystery as +possible. All the workmen employed by him were pledged to inviolable +secrecy; strangers were carefully excluded from the works; and the +whole of the steel made was melted during the night. There were many +speculations abroad as to Huntsman's process. It was generally +believed that his secret consisted in the flux which he employed to +make the metal melt more readily; and it leaked out amongst the +workmen that he used broken bottles for the purpose. Some of the +manufacturers, who by prying and bribing got an inkling of the +process, followed Huntsman implicitly in this respect; and they would +not allow their own workmen to flux the pots lest they also should +obtain possession of the secret. But it turned out eventually that no +such flux was necessary, and the practice has long since been +discontinued. A Frenchman named Jars, frequently quoted by Le Play in +his account of the manufacture of steel in Yorkshire,* + [footnote... +Annales des Mines, vols. iii. and ix., 4th Series. + ...] +paid a visit to Sheffield towards the end of last century, and +described the process so far as he was permitted to examine it. +According to his statement all kinds of fragments of broken steel +were used; but this is corrected by Le Play, who states that only the +best bar steel manufactured of Dannemora iron was employed. Jars adds +that "the steel is put into the crucible with A FLUX, the composition +of which is kept secret;" and he states that the time then occupied +in the conversion was five hours. + +It is said that the person who first succeeded in copying Huntsman's +process was an ironfounder named Walker, who carried on his business +at Greenside near Sheffield, and it was certainly there that the +making of cast-steel was next begun. Walker adopted the "ruse" of +disguising himself as a tramp, and, feigning great distress and +abject poverty, he appeared shivering at the door of Huntsman's +foundry late one night when the workmen were about to begin their +labours at steel-casting, and asked for admission to warm himself by +the furnace fire. The workmen's hearts were moved, and they permitted +him to enter. We have the above facts from the descendants of the +Huntsman family; but we add the traditional story preserved in the +neighbourhood, as given in a well-known book on metallurgy : -- + +"One cold winter's night, while the snow was falling in heavy flakes, +and the manufactory threw its red glared light over the +neighbourhood, a person of the most abject appearance presented +himself at the entrance, praying for permission to share the warmth +and shelter which it afforded. The humane workmen found the appeal +irresistible, and the apparent beggar was permitted to take up his +quarters in a warm corner of the building. A careful scrutiny would +have discovered little real sleep in the drowsiness which seemed to +overtake the stranger; for he eagerly watched every movement of the +workmen while they went through the operations of the newly +discovered process. He observed, first of all, that bars of blistered +steel were broken into small pieces, two or three inches in length, +and placed in crucibles of fire clay. When nearly full, a little +green glass broken into small fragments was spread over the top, and +the whole covered over with a closely-fitting cover. The crucibles +were then placed in a furnace previously prepared for them, and after +a lapse of from three to four hours, during which the crucibles were +examined from time to time to see that the metal was thoroughly +melted and incorporated, the workmen proceeded to lift the crucible +from its place on the furnace by means of tongs, and its molten +contents, blazing, sparkling, and spurting, were poured into a mould +of cast-iron previously prepared: here it was suffered to cool, while +the crucibles were again filled, and the process repeated. When cool, +the mould was unscrewed, and a bar of cast-steel presented itself, +which only required the aid of the hammerman to form a finished bar +of cast-steel. How the unauthorized spectator of these operations +effected his escape without detection tradition does not say; but it +tells us that, before many months had passed, the Huntsman +manufactory was not the only one where cast-steel was produced."* + [footnote... +The Useful Metals and their Alloys (p. 348), an excellent little +work, in which the process of cast-steel making will be found fully +described. + ...] + +However the facts may be, the discovery of the elder Huntsman proved +of the greatest advantage to Sheffield; for there is scarcely a +civilized country where Sheffield steel is not largely used, either +in its most highly finished forms of cutlery, or as the raw material +for some home manufacture. In the mean time the demand for Huntsman's +steel steadily increased, and in l770, for the purpose of obtaining +greater scope for his operations, he removed to a large new +manufactory which he erected at Attercliffe, a little to the north of +Sheffield, more conveniently situated for business purposes. There he +continued to flourish for six years more, making steel and practising +benevolence; for, like the Darbys and Reynoldses of Coalbrookdale, he +was a worthy and highly respected member of the Society of Friends. +He was well versed in the science of his day, and skilled in +chemistry, which doubtless proved of great advantage to him in +pursuing his experiments in metallurgy.* + [footnote... +We are informed that a mirror is still preserved at Attercliffe, made +by Huntsman in the days of his early experiments. + ...] +That he was possessed of great perseverance will be obvious from the +difficulties he encountered and overcame in perfecting his valuable +invention. He was, however, like many persons of strong original +character, eccentric in his habits and reserved in his manner. The +Royal Society wished to enrol him as a member in acknowledgment of +the high merit of his discovery of cast-steel, as well as because of +his skill in practical chemistry; but as this would have drawn him in +some measure from his seclusion, and was also, as he imagined, +opposed to the principles of the Society to which he belonged, he +declined the honour. Mr. Huntsman died in 1776, in his seventy-second +year, and was buried in the churchyard at Attercliffe, where a +gravestone with an inscription marks his resting-place. + +His son continued to carry on the business, and largely extended its +operations. The Huntsman mark became known throughout the civilised +world. Le Play the French Professor of Metallurgy, in his Memoire of +1846, still speaks of the cast-steel bearing the mark of "Huntsman +and Marshall" as the best that is made, and he adds, "the buyer of +this article, who pays a higher price for it than for other sorts, is +not acting merely in the blind spirit of routine, but pays a logical +and well-deserved homage to all the material and moral qualities of +which the true Huntsman mark has been the guarantee for a century."* + [footnote... +Annales des Mines, vol. ix., 4th Series, 266. + ...] + +Many other large firms now compete for their share of the trade; and +the extent to which it has grown, the number of furnaces constantly +at work, and the quantity of steel cast into ingots, to be tilted or +rolled for the various purposes to which it is applied, have rendered +Sheffield the greatest laboratory in the world of this valuable +material. Of the total quantity of cast-steel manufactured in +England, not less than five-sixths are produced there; and the +facilities for experiment and adaptation on the spot have enabled the +Sheffield steel-makers to keep the lead in the manufacture, and +surpass all others in the perfection to which they have carried this +important branch of our national industry. It is indeed a remarkable +fact that this very town, which was formerly indebted to Styria for +the steel used in its manufactures, now exports a material of its own +conversion to the Austrian forges and other places on the Continent +from which it was before accustomed to draw its own supplies. + +Among the improved processes invented of late years for the +manufacture of steel are those of Heath, Mushet, and Bessemer. The +last promises to effect before long an entire revolution in the iron +and steel trade. By it the crude metal is converted by one simple +process, directly as it comes from the blast-furnace. This is +effected by driving through it, while still in a molten state, +several streams of atmospheric air, on which the carbon of the crude +iron unites with the oxygen of the atmosphere, the temperature is +greatly raised, and a violent ebullition takes place, during which, +if the process be continued, that part of the carbon which appears to +be mechanically mixed and diffused through the crude iron is entirely +consumed. The metal becomes thoroughly cleansed, the slag is ejected +and removed, while the sulphur and other volatile matters are driven +off; the result being an ingot of malleable iron of the quality of +charcoal iron. An important. feature in the process is, that by +stopping it at a particular stage, immediately following the boil, +before the whole of the carbon has been abstracted by the oxygen, the +crude iron will be found to have passed into the condition of +cast-steel of ordinary quality. By continuing the process, the metal +losing its carbon, it passes from hard to soft steel, thence to +steely iron, and last of all to very soft iron; so that by +interrupting the process at any stage, or continuing it to the end, +almost any quality of iron and steel may be obtained. One of the most +valuable forms of the metal is described by Mr. Bessemer as +"semi-steel," being in hardness about midway between ordinary +cast-steel and soft malleable iron. The Bessemer processes are now in +full operation in England as well as abroad, both for converting +crude into malleable iron, and for producing steel; and the results +are expected to prove of the greatest practical utility in all cases +where iron and steel are extensively employed. + +Yet, like every other invention, this of Mr. Bessemer had long been +dreamt of, if not really made. We are informed in Warner's Tour +through the Northern. Counties of England, published at Bath in l80L, +that a Mr. Reed of Whitehaven had succeeded at that early period in +making steel direct from the ore; and Mr. Mushet clearly alludes to +the process in his "Papers on Iron and Steel." Nevertheless, Mr. +Bessemer is entitled to the merit of working out the idea, and +bringing the process to perfection, by his great skill and +indomitable perseverance. In the Heath process, carburet of manganese +is employed to aid the conversion of iron into steel, while it also +confers on the metal the property of welding and working more soundly +under the hammer--a fact discovered by Mr. Heath while residing in +India. Mr. Mushet's process is of a similar character. Another +inventor, Major Uchatius, an Austrian engineer, granulates crude iron +while in a molten state by pouring it into water, and then subjecting +it to the process of conversion. Some of the manufacturers still +affect secrecy in their operations; but as one of the Sanderson +firm--famous for the excellence of their steel--remarked to a visitor +when showing him over their works, "the great secret is to have the +courage to be honest--a spirit to purchase the best material, and the +means and disposition to do justice to it in the manufacture." + +It remains to be added, that much of the success of the Sheffield +manufactures is attributable to the practical skill of the workmen, +who have profited by the accumulated experience treasured up by their +class through many generations. The results of the innumerable +experiments conducted before their eyes have issued in a most +valuable though unwritten code of practice, the details of which are +known only to themselves. They are also a most laborious class; and +Le Play says of them, when alluding to the fact of a single workman +superintending the operations of three steel-casting furnaces--"I +have found nowhere in Europe, except in England, workmen able for an +entire day, without any interval of rest, to undergo such toilsome +and exhausting labour as that performed by these Sheffield workmen." + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE INVENTIONS OF HENRY CORT. + +"I have always found it in mine own experience an easier matter to +devise manie and profitable inventions, than to dispose of one of +them to the good of the author himself."--Sir Hugh Platt, 1589. + + +Henry Cort was born in 1740 at Lancaster, where his father carried on +the trade of a builder and brickmaker. Nothing is known as to Henry's +early history; but he seems to have raised himself by his own efforts +to a respectable position. In 1765 we find him established in Surrey +Street, Strand, carrying on the business of a navy agent, in which he +is said to have realized considerable profits. It was while +conducting this business that he became aware of the inferiority of +British iron compared with that obtained from foreign countries. The +English wrought iron was considered so bad that it was prohibited +from all government supplies, while the cast iron was considered of +too brittle a nature to be suited for general use.* + [footnote... +Life of Brunel, p. 60. + ...] +Indeed the Russian government became so +persuaded that the English nation could not carry on their +manufactures without Russian iron, that in 1770 they ordered the +price to be raised from 70 and 80 copecs per pood to 200 and 220 +copecs per pood.* + [footnote... +SCRIVENOR, History of the Iron Trade, 169. + ...] + +Such being the case, Cort's attention became directed to the subject +in connection with the supply of iron to the Navy, and he entered on +a series of experiments with the object of improving the manufacture +of English iron. What the particular experiments were, and by what +steps he arrived at results of so much importance to the British iron +trade, no one can now tell. All that is known is, that about the year +1775 he relinquished his business as a navy agent, and took a lease +of certain premises at Fontley, near Fareham, at the north-western +corner of Portsmouth Harbour, where he erected a forge and an iron +mill. He was afterwards joined in partnership by Samuel Jellicoe (son +of Adam Jellicoe, then Deputy-Paymaster of Seamen's Wages), which +turned out, as will shortly appear, a most unfortunate connection for +Cort. + +As in the case of other inventions, Cort took up the manufacture of +iron at the point to which his predecessors had brought it, carrying +it still further, and improving upon their processes. We may here +briefly recite the steps by which the manufacture of bar-iron by +means of pit-coal had up to this time been advanced. In 1747, Mr. +Ford succeeded at Coalbrookdale in smelting iron ore with pit-coal, +after which it was refined in the usual way by means of coke and +charcoal. In 1762, Dr. Roebuck (hereafter to be referred to) took out +a patent for melting the cast or pig iron in a hearth heated with +pit-coal by the blast of bellows, and then working the iron until it +was reduced to nature, or metallized, as it was termed; after which +it was exposed to the action of a hollow pit-coal fire urged by a +blast, until it was reduced to a loop and drawn out into bar-iron +under a common forge-hammer. Then the brothers Cranege, in 1766, +adopted the reverberatory or air furnace, in which they placed the +pig or cast iron, and without blast or the addition of anything more +than common raw pit-coal, converted the same into good malleable +iron, which being taken red hot from the reverberatory furnace to the +forge hammer, was drawn into bars according to the will of the +workman. Peter Onions of Merthyr Tydvil, in 1783, carried the +manufacture a stage further, as described by him in his patent of +that year. Having charged his furnace ("bound with iron work and well +annealed") with pig or fused cast iron from the smelting furnace, it +was closed up and the doors were luted with sand. The fire was urged +by a blast admitted underneath, apparently for the purpose of keeping +up the combustion of the fuel on the grate. Thus Onions' furnace was +of the nature of a puddling furnace, the fire of which was urged by a +blast. The fire was to be kept up until the metal became less fluid, +and "thickened into a kind of froth, which the workman, by opening +the door, must turn and stir with a bar or other iron instrument, and +then close the aperture again, applying the blast and fire until +there was a ferment in the metal." The patent further describes that +"as the workman stirs the metal," the scoriae will separate, "and the +particles of iron will adhere, which particles the workman must +collect or gather into a mass or lump." This mass or lump was then to +be raised to a white heat, and forged into malleable iron at the +forge-hammer. + +Such was the stage of advance reached in the manufacture of bar-iron, +when Henry Cort published his patents in 1783 and 1784. In dispensing +with a blast, he had been anticipated by the Craneges, and in the +process of puddling by Onions; but he introduced so many improvements +of an original character, with which he combined the inventions of +his predecessors, as to establish quite a new era in the history of +the iron manufacture, and, in the course of a few years, to raise it +to the highest state of prosperity. As early as 1786, Lord Sheffield +recognised the great national importance of Cort's improvements in +the following words: - If Mr. Cort's very ingenious and meritorious +improvements in the art of making and working iron, the steam-engine +of Boulton and Watt, and Lord Dundonald's discovery of making coke at +half the present price, should all succeed, it is not asserting too +much to say that the result will be more advantageous to Great +Britain than the possession of the thirteen colonies (of America); +for it will give the complete command of the iron trade to this +country, with its vast advantages to navigation." It is scarcely +necessary here to point out how completely the anticipations of Lord +Sheffield have been fulfilled, sanguine though they might appear to +be when uttered some seventy-six years ago.* + [footnote... +Although the iron manufacture had gradually been increasing since the +middle of the century, it was as yet comparatively insignificant in +amount. Thus we find, from a statement by W. Wilkinson, dated Dec. +25, 1791, contained in the memorandum-book of Wm. Reynolds of +Coalbrookdale, that the produce in England and Scotland was then +estimated to be + + Coke Furnaces. Charcoal Furnaces. + + In England ......73 producing 67,548 tons 20 producing 8500 tons + In Scotland......12 " 12,480 " 2 " 1000 " + ---- ------ -- ---- + 85 " 80,028 " 22 " 9500 " + + +At the same time the annual import of Oregrounds iron from Sweden +amounted to about 20,000 tons, and of bars and slabs from Russia +about 50,000 tons, at an average cost of 35L. a ton! + ...] + +We will endeavour as briefly as possible to point out the important +character of Mr. Cort's improvements, as embodied in his two patents +of 1783 and 1784. In the first he states that, after "great study, +labour, and expense, in trying a variety of experiments, and making +many discoveries, he had invented and brought to perfection a +peculiar method and process of preparing, welding, and working +various sorts of iron, and of reducing the same into uses by +machinery: a furnace, and other apparatus, adapted and applied to the +said process." He first describes his method of making iron for +"large uses," such as shanks, arms, rings, and palms of anchors, by +the method of piling and faggoting, since become generally practised, +by laying bars of iron of suitable lengths, forged on purpose, and +tapering so as to be thinner at one end than the other, laid over one +another in the manner of bricks in buildings, so that the ends should +everywhere overlay each other. The faggots so prepared, to the amount +of half a ton more or less, were then to be put into a common air or +balling furnace, and brought to a welding heat, which was +accomplished by his method in a much shorter time than in any hollow +fire; and when the heat was perfect, the faggots were then brought +under a forge-hammer of great size and weight, and welded into a +solid mass. Mr. Cort alleges in the specification that iron for +"larger uses" thus finished, is in all respect's possessed of the +highest degree of perfection; and that the fire in the balling +furnace is better suited, from its regularity and penetrating +quality, to give the iron a perfect welding heat throughout its whole +mass, without fusing in any part, than any fire blown by a blast. +Another process employed by Mr. Cort for the purpose of cleansing the +iron and producing a metal of purer grain, was that of working the +faggots by passing them through rollers. "By this simple process," +said he, "all the earthy particles are pressed out and the iron +becomes at once free from dross, and what is usually called cinder, +and is compressed into a fibrous and tough state." The objection has +indeed been taken to the process of passing the iron through rollers, +that the cinder is not so effectually got rid of as by passing it +under a tilt hammer, and that much of it is squeezed into the bar and +remains there, interrupting its fibre and impairing its strength. + +It does not appear that there was any novelty in the use of rollers +by Cort; for in his first specification he speaks of them as already +well known.* + [footnote... +"It is material to observe", says Mr. Webster, "that Cort, in this +specification, speaks of the rollers, furnaces, and separate +processes, as well known. There is no claim to any of them +separately; the claim is to the reducing of the faggots of piled iron +into bars, and the welding of such bars by rollers instead of by +forge-hammers."--Memoir of Henry Cort, in Mechanic's Magazine, 15 +July, 1859, by Thomas Webster, M.A., F.R.S. + ...] +His great merit consisted in apprehending the value of certain +processes, as tested by his own and others' experience, and combining +and applying them in a more effective practical form than had ever +been done before. This power of apprehending the best methods, and +embodying the details in one complete whole, marks the practical, +clear-sighted man, and in certain cases amounts almost to a genius. +The merit of combining the inventions of others in such forms as that +they shall work to advantage, is as great in its way as that of the +man who strikes out the inventions themselves, but who, for want of +tact and experience, cannot carry them into practical effect. + +It was the same with Cort's second patent, in which he described his +method of manufacturing bar-iron from the ore or from cast-iron. All +the several processes therein described had been practised before his +time; his merit chiefly consisting in the skilful manner in which he +combined and applied them. Thus, like the Craneges, he employed the +reverberatory or air furnace, without blast, and, like Onions, he +worked the fused metal with iron bars until it was brought into +lumps, when it was removed and forged into malleable iron. Cort, +however, carried the process further, and made it more effectual in +all respects. His method may be thus briefly described: the bottom of +the reverberatory furnace was hollow, so as to contain the fluid +metal, introduced into it by ladles; the heat being kept up by +pit-coal or other fuel. When the furnace was charged, the doors were +closed until the metal was sufficiently fused, when the workman +opened an aperture and worked or stirred about the metal with iron +bars, when an ebullition took place, during the continuance of which +a bluish flame was emitted, the carbon of the cast-iron was burned +off, the metal separated from the slag, and the iron, becoming +reduced to nature, was then collected into lumps or loops of sizes +suited to their intended uses, when they were drawn out of the doors +of the furnace. They were then stamped into plates, and piled or +worked in an air furnace, heated to a white or welding heat, shingled +under a forge hammer, and passed through the grooved rollers after +the method described in the first patent. + +The processes described by Cort in his two patents have been followed +by iron manufacturers, with various modifications, the results of +enlarged experience, down to the present time. After the lapse of +seventy-eight years, the language employed by Cort continues on the +whole a faithful description of the processes still practised: the +same methods of manufacturing bar from cast-iron, and of puddling, +piling, welding, and working the bar-iron through grooved +rollers--all are nearly identical with the methods of manufacture +perfected by Henry Cort in 1784. It may be mentioned that the +development of the powers of the steam-engine by Watt had an +extraordinary effect upon the production of iron. It created a +largely increased demand for the article for the purposes of the +shafting and machinery which it was employed to drive; while at the +same time it cleared pits of water which before were unworkable, and +by being extensively applied to the blowing of iron-furnaces and the +working of the rolling-mills, it thus gave a still further impetus to +the manufacture of the metal. It would be beside our purpose to enter +into any statistical detail on the subject; but it will be sufficient +to state that the production of iron, which in the early part of last +century amounted to little more than 12,000 tons, about the middle of +the century to about 18,000 tons, and at the time of Cort's +inventions to about 90,000 tons, was found, in 1820, to have +increased to 400,000 tons; and now the total quantity produced is +upwards of four millions of tons of pig-iron every year, or more than +the entire production of all other European countries. There is +little reason to doubt that this extraordinary development of the +iron manufacture has been in a great measure due to the inventions of +Henry Cort. It is said that at the present time there are not fewer +than 8200 of Cort's furnaces in operation in Great Britain alone.* + [footnote... +Letter by Mr. Truran in Mechanic's Magazine. + ...] + +Practical men have regarded Cort's improvement of the process of +rolling the iron as the most valuable of his inventions. A competent +authority has spoken of Cort's grooved rollers as of "high +philosophical interest, being scarcely less than the discovery of a +new mechanical Power, in reversing the action of the wedge, by the +application of force to four surfaces, so as to elongate a mass, +instead of applying force to a mass to divide the four surfaces." One +of the best authorities in the iron trade of last century, Mr. +Alexander Raby of Llanelly, like many others, was at first entirely +sceptical as to the value of Cort's invention; but he had no sooner +witnessed the process than with manly candour he avowed his entire +conversion to his views. + +We now return to the history of the chief author of this great branch +of national industry. As might naturally be expected, the principal +ironmasters, when they heard of Cort's success, and the rapidity and +economy with which he manufactured and forged bar-iron, visited his +foundry for the purpose of examining his process, and, if found +expedient, of employing it at their own works. Among the first to try +it were Richard Crawshay of Cyfartha, Samuel Homfray of Penydarran +(both in South Wales), and William Reynolds of Coalbrookdale. Richard +Crawshay was then (in 1787) forging only ten tons of bar-iron weekly +under the hammer; and when he saw the superior processes invented by +Cort he readily entered into a contract with him to work under his +patents at ten shillings a ton royalty, In 1812 a letter from Mr. +Crawshay to the Secretary of Lord Sheffield was read to the House of +Commons, descriptive of his method of working iron, in which he said, +"I took it from a Mr. Cort, who had a little mill at Fontley in +Hampshire: I have thus acquainted you with my method, by which I am +now making more than ten thousand tons of bar-iron per annum." Samuel +Homfray was equally prompt in adopting the new process. He not only +obtained from Cort plans of the puddling-furnaces and patterns of the +rolls, but borrowed Cort's workmen to instruct his own in the +necessary operations; and he soon found the method so superior to +that invented by Onions that he entirely confined himself to +manufacturing after Cort's patent. We also find Mr. Reynolds inviting +Cort to conduct a trial of his process at Ketley, though it does not +appear that it was adopted by the firm at that time.* + [footnote... +In the memorandum-book of Wm. Reynolds appears the following entry on +the subject: -- + "Copy of a paper given to H. Cort, Esq. +"W. Reynolds saw H. C. in a trial which he made at Ketley, +Dec. 17, 1784, produce from the same pig both cold short and tough iron +by a variation of the process used in reducing them from the state of +cast-iron to that of malleable or bar-iron; and in point of yield his +processes were quite equal to those at Pitchford, which did not +exceed the proportion of 31 cwt. to the ton of bars. The experiment +was made by stamping and potting the blooms or loops made in his +furnace, which then produced a cold short iron; but when they were +immediately shingled and drawn, the iron was of a black tough." + +The Coalbrookdale ironmasters are said to have been deterred from +adopting the process because of what was considered an excessive +waste of the metal--about 25 per cent,--though, with greater +experience, this waste was very much diminished. + ...] + +The quality of the iron manufactured by the new process was found +satisfactory; and the Admiralty having, by the persons appointed by +them to test it in 1787, pronounced it to be superior to the best +Oregrounds iron, the use of the latter was thenceforward +discontinued, and Cort's iron only was directed to be used for the +anchors and other ironwork in the ships of the Royal Navy. The merits +of the invention seem to have been generally conceded, and numerous +contracts for licences were entered into with Cort and his partner by +the manufacturers of bar-iron throughout the country.* + [footnote... +Mr. Webster, in the 'Case of Henry Cort,' published in the Mechanic's +Magazine (2 Dec. 1859), states that "licences were taken at royalties +estimated to yield 27,500L. to the owners of the patents." ...] +Cort himself made arrangements for carrying on the manufacture on a +large scale, and with that object entered upon the possession of a +wharf at Gosport, belonging to Adam Jellicoe, his partner's father, +where he succeeded in obtaining considerable Government orders for +iron made after his patents. To all ordinary eyes the inventor now +appeared to be on the high road to fortune; but there was a fatal +canker at the root of this seeming prosperity, and in a few years the +fabric which he had so laboriously raised crumbled into ruins. On the +death of Adam Jellicoe, the father of Cort's partner, in August, +1789,* + [footnote... +In the 'Case of Henry Cort,' by Mr. Webster, above referred to +(Mechanic's Magazine, 2 Dec. 1859), it is stated that Adam Jellicoe +"committed suicide under the pressure of dread of exposure," but this +does not appear to be confirmed by the accounts in the newspapers of +the day. He died at his private dwelling-house, No.14, Highbury +Place, Islingtonn, on the 30th August,1789, after a fortnight's +illness. + ...] +defalcations were discovered in his public accounts to the extent of +39,676l., and his books and papers were immediately taken possession +of by the Government. On examination it was found that the debts due +to Jellicoe amounted to 89,657l, included in which was a sum of not +less than 54,853l. owing to him by the Cort partnership. In the +public investigation which afterwards took place, it appeared that +the capital possessed by Cort being insufficient to enable him to +pursue his experiments, which were of a very expensive character, +Adam Jellicoe had advanced money from time to time for the purpose, +securing himself by a deed of agreement entitling him to one-half the +stock and profits of all his contracts; and in further consideration +of the capital advanced by Jellicoe beyond his equal share, Cort +subsequently assigned to him all his patent rights as collateral +security. As Jellicoe had the reputation of being a rich man, Cort +had not the slightest suspicion of the source from which he obtained +the advances made by him to the firm, nor has any connivance whatever +on the part of Cort been suggested. At the same time it must be +admitted that the connexion was not free from suspicion, and, to say +the least, it was a singularly unfortunate one. It was found that +among the moneys advanced by Jellicoe to Cort there was a sum of +27,500L. entrusted to him for the payment of seamen's and officers' +wages. How his embarrassments had tempted him to make use of the +public funds for the purpose of carrying on his speculations, appears +from his own admissions. In a memorandum dated the 11th November, +l782, found in his strong box after his death, he set forth that he +had always had much more than his proper balance in hand, until his +engagement, about two years before, with Mr. Cort, "which by degrees +has so reduced me, and employed so much more of my money than I +expected, that I have been obliged to turn most of my Navy bills into +cash, and at the same time, to my great concern, am very deficient in +my balance. This gives me great uneasiness, nor shall I live or die +in peace till the whole is restored." He had, however, made the first +false step, after which the downhill career of dishonesty is rapid. +His desperate attempts to set himself right only involved him the +deeper; his conscious breach of trust caused him a degree of daily +torment which he could not bear; and the discovery of his +defalcations, which was made only a few days before his death, +doubtless hastened his end. + +The Government acted with promptitude, as they were bound to do in +such a case. The body of Jellicoe was worth nothing to them, but they +could secure the property in which he had fraudulently invested the +public moneys intrusted to him. With this object the them Paymaster +of the Navy proceeded to make an affidavit in the Exchequer that +Henry Cort was indebted to His Majesty in the sum of 27,500L. and +upwards, in respect of moneys belonging to the public treasury, which +"Adam Jellicoe had at different times lent and advanced to the said +Henry Cort, from whom the same now remains justly due and owing; and +the deponent saith he verily believes that the said Henry Cort is +much decayed in his credit and in very embarrassed circumstances; and +therefore the deponent verily believes that the aforesaid debt so due +and owing to His Majesty is in great danger of being lost if some +more speedy means be not taken for the recovery than by the ordinary +process of the Court." Extraordinary measures were therefore adopted. +The assignments of Cort's patents, which had been made to Jellicoe in +consideration of his advances, were taken possession of; but Samuel +Jellicoe, the son of the defaulter, singular to say, was put in +possession of the properties at Fontley and Gosport, and continued to +enjoy them, to Cort's exclusion, for a period of fourteen years. It +does not however appear that any patent right was ever levied by the +assignees, and the result of the proceeding was that the whole +benefit of Cort's inventions was thus made over to the ironmasters +and to the public. Had the estate been properly handled, and the +patent rights due under the contracts made by the ironmasters with +Cort been duly levied, there is little reason to doubt that the whole +of the debt owing to the Government would have been paid in the +course of a few years. "When we consider," says Mr. Webster, "how +very simple was the process of demanding of the contracting +ironmasters the patent due (which for the year 1789 amounted to +15,000L., in 1790 to 15,000L., and in 1791 to 25,000L.), and which +demand might have been enforced by the same legal process used to +ruin the inventor, it is not difficult to surmise the motive for +abstaining." The case, however, was not so simple as Mr. Webster puts +it; for there was such a contingency as that of the ironmasters +combining to dispute the patent right, and there is every reason to +believe that they were prepared to adopt that course.* + [footnote... +This is confirmed by the report of a House of Commons Committee on +the subject Mr. Davies Gilbert chairman), in which they say, "Your +committee have not been able to satisfy themselves that either of the +two inventions, one for subjecting cast-iron to an operation termed +puddling during its conversion to malleable iron, and the other for +passing it through fluted or grooved rollers, were so novel in their +principle or their application as fairly to entitle the petitioners +[Mr. Cort's survivors] to a parliamentary reward." It is, however, +stated by Mr. Mushet that the evidence was not fairly taken by the +committee--that they were overborne by the audacity of Mr. Samuel +Homfray, one of the great Welsh ironmasters, whose statements were +altogether at variance with known facts--and that it was under his +influence that Mr. Gilbert drew up the fallacious report of the +committee. The illustrious James Watt, writing to Dr. Black in 1784, +as to the iron produced by Cort's process, said, "Though I cannot +perfectly agree with you as to its goodness, yet there is much +ingenuity in the idea of forming the bars in that manner, which is +the only part of his process which has any pretensions to novelty.... +Mr. Cort has, as you observe, been most illiberally treated by the +trade: they are ignorant brutes; but he exposed himself to it by +showing them the process before it was perfect, and seeing his +ignorance of the common operations of making iron, laughed at and +despised him; yet they will contrive by some dirty evasion to use his +process, or such parts as they like, without acknowledging him in it. +I shall be glad to be able to be of any use to him. Watts +fellow-feeling was naturally excited in favour of the plundered +inventor, he himself having all his life been exposed to the attacks +of like piratical assailants. + ...] + +Although the Cort patents expired in 1796 and 1798 respectively, they +continued the subject of public discussion for some time after, more +particularly in connection with the defalcations of the deceased Adam +Jellicoe. It does not appear that more than 2654l. was realised by +the Government from the Cort estate towards the loss sustained by the +public, as a balance of 24,846l. was still found standing to the +debit of Jellicoe in 1800, when the deficiencies in the naval +account's became matter of public inquiry. A few years later, in +1805, the subject was again revived in a remarkable manner. In that +year, the Whigs, Perceiving the bodily decay of Mr. Pitt, and being +too eager to wait for his removal by death, began their famous series +of attacks upon his administration. Fearing to tackle the popular +statesman himself, they inverted the ordinary tactics of an +opposition, and fell foul of Dundas, Lord Melville, then Treasurer of +the Navy, who had successfully carried the country through the great +naval war with revolutionary France. They scrupled not to tax him +with gross peculation, and exhibited articles of impeachment against +him, which became the subject of elaborate investigation, the result +of which is matter of history. In those articles, no reference +whatever was made to Lord Melville's supposed complicity with +Jellicoe; nor, on the trial that followed, was any reference made to +the defalcations of that official. But when Mr. Whitbread, on the 8th +of April, 1805, spoke to the "Resolutions" in the Commons for +impeaching the Treasurer of the Navy, he thought proper to intimate +that he "had a strong suspicion that Jellicoe was in the same +partnership with Mark Sprott, Alexander Trotter, and Lord Melville. +He had been suffered to remain a public debtor for a whole year after +he was known to be in arrears upwards of 24,000L. During next year +11,000L. more had accrued. It would not have been fair to have turned +too short on an old companion. It would perhaps, too, have been +dangerous, since unpleasant discoveries might have met the public +eye. It looked very much as if, mutually conscious of criminality, +they had agreed to be silent, and keep their own secrets." + +In making these offensive observations Whitbread was manifestly +actuated by political enmity. They were utterly unwarrantable. In the +first place, Melville had been formally acquitted of Jellicoe's +deficiency by a writ of Privy Seal, dated 31st May, 1800; and +secondly, the committee appointed in that very year (1805) to +reinvestigate the naval accounts, had again exonerated him, but +intimated that they were of opinion there was remissness on his part +in allowing Jellicoe to remain in his office after the discovery of +his defalcations. + +the report made by the commissioners to the Houses of Parliament in +1805,* + [footnote... +Tenth Report of the Commissioners of Naval Inquiry. See also Report +of Select Committee on the 10th Naval Report. May, 1805. + ...] + the value of Corts patents was estimated at only 100L. Referring to +the schedule of Jellicoe's alleged assets, they say "Many of the +debts are marked as bad; and we apprehend that the debt from Mr. +Henry Cort, not so marked, of 54,000L. and upwards, is of that +description." As for poor bankrupt Henry Cort, these discussions +availed nothing. On the death of Jellicoe, he left his iron works, +feeling himself a ruined man. He made many appeals to the Government +of the day for restoral of his patents, and offered to find security +for payment of the debt due by his firm to the Crown, but in vain. In +1794, an appeal was made to Mr. Pitt by a number of influential +members of Parliament, on behalf of the inventor and his destitute +family of twelve children, when a pension of 200L. a-year was granted +him. This Mr. Cort enjoyed until the year 1800, when he died, broken +in health and spirit, in his sixtieth year. He was buried in +Hampstead Churchyard, where a stone marking the date of his death is +still to be seen. A few years since it was illegible, but it has +recently been restored by his surviving son. + +Though Cort thus died in comparative poverty, he laid the foundations +of many gigantic fortunes. He may be said to have been in a great +measure the author of our modern iron aristocracy, who still +manufacture after the processes which he invented or perfected, but +for which they never paid him a shilling of royalty. These men of +gigantic fortunes have owed much--we might almost say everything-- to +the ruined projector of "the little mill at Fontley." Their wealth +has enriched many families of the older aristocracy, and has been the +foundation of several modern peerages. Yet Henry Cort, the rock from +which they were hewn, is already all but forgotten; and his surviving +children, now aged and infirm, are dependent for their support upon +the slender pittance wrung by repeated entreaty and expostulation +from the state. + +The career of Richard Crawshay, the first of the great ironmasters +who had the sense to appreciate and adopt the methods of +manufacturing iron invented by Henry Cort, is a not unfitting +commentary on the sad history we have thus briefly described. It +shows how, as respects mere money-making, shrewdness is more potent +than invention, and business faculty than manufacturing skill. +Richard Crawshay was born at Normanton near Leeds, the son of a small +Yorkshire farmer. When a youth, he worked on his father's farm, and +looked forward to occupying the same condition in life; but a +difference with his father unsettled his mind, and at the age of +fifteen he determined to leave his home, and seek his fortune +elsewhere. Like most unsettled and enterprising lads, he first made +for London, riding to town on a pony of his own, which, with the +clothes on his back, formed his entire fortune. It took him a +fortnight to make the journey, in consequence of the badness of the +roads. Arrived in London, he sold his pony for fifteen pounds, and +the money kept him until he succeeded in finding employment. He was +so fortunate as to be taken upon trial by a Mr. Bicklewith, who kept +an ironmonger's shop in York Yard, Upper Thames Street; and his first +duty there was to clean out the office, put the stools and desks in +order for the other clerks, run errands, and act as porter when +occasion required. Young Crawshay was very attentive, industrious, +and shrewd; and became known in the office as "The Yorkshire Boy." +Chiefly because of his "cuteness," his master appointed him to the +department of selling flat irons. The London washerwomen of that day +were very sharp and not very honest, and it used to be said of them +that where they bought one flat iron they generally contrived to +steal two. Mr. Bicklewith thought he could not do better than set the +Yorkshireman to watch the washerwomen, and, by way of inducement to +him to be vigilant, he gave young Crawshay an interest in that branch +of the business, which was soon found to prosper under his charge. +After a few more years, Mr. Bicklewith retired, and left to Crawshay +the cast-iron business in York Yard. This he still further increased, +There was not at that time much enterprise in the iron trade, but +Crawshay endeavoured to connect himself with what there was of it. +The price of iron was then very high, and the best sorts were still +imported from abroad; a good deal of the foreign iron and steel being +still landed at the Steelyard on the Thames, in the immediate +neighbourhood of Crawshay's ironmongery store. + +It seems to have occurred to some London capitalists that money was +then to be made in the iron trade, and that South Wales was a good +field for an experiment. The soil there was known to be full of coal +and ironstone, and several small iron works had for some time been +carried on, which were supposed to be doing well. Merthyr Tydvil was +one of the places at which operations had been begun, but the place +being situated in a hill district, of difficult access, and the +manufacture being still in a very imperfect state, the progress made +was for some time very slow. Land containing coal and iron was deemed +of very little value, as maybe inferred from the fact that in the +year 1765, Mr. Anthony Bacon, a man of much foresight, took a lease +from Lord Talbot, for 99 years, of the minerals under forty square +miles of country surrounding the then insignificant hamlet of Merthyr +Tydvil, at the trifling rental of 200L. a-year. There he erected iron +works, and supplied the Government with considerable quantities of +cannon and iron for different purposes; and having earned a +competency, he retired from business in 1782, subletting his mineral +tract in four divisions--the Dowlais, the Penydarran, the Cyfartha, +and the Plymouth Works, north, east, west, and south, of Merthyr +Tydvil. + +Mr. Richard Crawshay became the lessee of what Mr. Mushet has called +"the Cyfartha flitch of the great Bacon domain." There he proceeded +to carry on the works established by Mr. Bacon with increased spirit; +his son William, whom he left in charge of the ironmongery store in +London, supplying him with capital to put into the iron works as +fast. as he could earn it by the retail trade. In 1787, we find +Richard Crawshay manufacturing with difficulty ten tons of bar-iron +weekly, and it was of a very inferior character,* + [footnote... +Mr. Mushet says of the early manufacture of iron at Merthyr Tydvil +that "A modification of the charcoal refinery, a hollow fire, was +worked with coke as a substitute for charcoal, but the bar-iron +hammered from the produce was very inferior." The pit-coal cast-iron +was nevertheless found of a superior quality for castings, being more +fusible and more homogeneous than charcoal-iron. Hence it was well +adapted for cannon, which was for some time the principal article of +manufacture at the Welsh works. + ...] +-- the means not having yet been devised at Cyfartha for +malleableizing the pit-coal cast-iron with economy or good effect. +Yet Crawshay found a ready market for all the iron he could make, and +he is said to have counted the gains of the forge-hammer close by his +house at the rate of a penny a stroke. In course of time he found it +necessary to erect new furnaces, and, having adopted the processes +invented by Henry Cort, he was thereby enabled greatly to increase +the production of his forges, until in 1812 we find him stating to a +committee of the House of Commons that he was making ten thousand +tons of bar-iron yearly, or an average produce of two hundred tons a +week. But this quantity, great though it was, has since been largely +increased, the total produce of the Crawshay furnaces of Cyfartha, +Ynysfach, and Kirwan, being upwards of 50,000 tons of bar-iron +yearly. + +The distance of Merthyr from Cardiff, the nearest port, being +considerable, and the cost of carriage being very great by reason of +the badness of the roads, Mr. Crawshay set himself to overcome this +great impediment to the prosperity of the Merthyr Tydvil district; +and, in conjunction with Mr. Homfray of the Penydarran Works, he +planned and constructed the canal* + [footnote... +It may be worthy of note that the first locomotive run upon a +railroad was that constructed by Trevithick for Mr. Homfray in 1803, +which was employed to bring down metal from the furnaces to the Old +Forge. The engine was taken off the road because the tram-plates were +found too weak to bear its weight without breaking. + ...] +to Cardiff, the opening of which, in 1795, gave an immense impetus to +the iron trade of the neighbourhood. Numerous other extensive iron +works became established there, until Merthyr Tydvil attained the +reputation of being at once the richest and the dirtiest district in +all Britain. Mr. Crawshay became known in the west of England as the +"Iron King," and was quoted as the highest authority in all questions +relating to the trade. Mr. George Crawshay, recently describing the +founder of the family at a social meeting at Newcastle, said,--"In +these days a name like ours is lost in the infinity of great +manufacturing firms which exist through out the land; but in those +early times the man who opened out the iron district of Wales stood +upon an eminence seen by all the world. It is preserved in the +traditions of the family that when the 'Iron King' used to drive from +home in his coach-and-four into Wales, all the country turned out to +see him, and quite a commotion took place when he passed through +Bristol on his way to the works. My great grandfather was succeeded +by his son, and by his grandson; the Crawshays have followed one +another for four generations in the iron trade in Wales, and there +they still stand at the head of the trade." The occasion on which +these words were uttered was at a Christmas party, given to the men, +about 1300 in number, employed at the iron works of Messrs. Hawks, +Crawshay, and Co., at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. These works were founded +in 1754 by William Hawks, a blacksmith, whose principal trade +consisted in making claw-hammers for joiners. He became a thriving +man, and eventually a large manufacturer of bar-iron. Partners joined +him, and in the course of the changes wrought by time, one of the +Crawshays, in 1842, became a principal partner in the firm. + +Illustrations of a like kind might be multiplied to any extent, +showing the growth in our own time of an iron aristocracy of great +wealth and influence, the result mainly of the successful working of +the inventions of the unfortunate and unrequited Henry Cort. He has +been the very Tubal Cain of England--one of the principal founders of +our iron age. To him we mainly owe the abundance of wrought-iron for +machinery, for steam-engines, and for railways, at one-third the +price we were before accustomed to pay to the foreigner. We have by +his invention, not only ceased to be dependent upon other nations for +our supply of iron for tools, implements, and arms, but we have +become the greatest exporters of iron, producing more than all other +European countries combined. In the opinion of Mr. Fairbairn of +Manchester, the inventions of Henry Cort have already added six +hundred millions sterling to the wealth of the kingdom, while they +have given employment to some six hundred thousand working people +during three generations. And while the great ironmasters, by freely +availing themselves of his inventions, have been adding estate to +estate, the only estate secured by Henry Cort was the little domain +of six feet by two in which he lies interred in Hampstead Churchyard. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE SCOTCH IRON MANUFACTURE - Dr. ROEBUCK DAVID MUSHET. + +"Were public benefactors to be allowed to pass away, like hewers of +wood and drawers of water, without commemoration, genius and +enterprise would be deprived of their most coveted distinction."--Sir +Henry Englefield. + + +The account given of Dr. Roebuck in a Cyclopedia of Biography, +recently published in Glasgow, runs as follows: -- "Roebuck, John, a +physician and experimental chemist, born at Sheffield, 1718; died, +after ruining himself by his projects, 1794. Such is the short shrift +which the man receives who fails. Had Dr. Roebuck wholly succeeded in +his projects, he would probably have been esteemed as among the +greatest of Scotland's benefactors. Yet his life was not altogether a +failure, as we think will sufficiently appear from the following +brief account of his labours: -- + +At the beginning of last century, John Roebuck's father carried on +the manufacture of cutlery at Sheffield,* + [footnote... +Dr. Roebuck's grandson, John Arthur Roebuck, by a singular +coincidence, at present represents Sheffield in the British +Parliament. + ...] +in the course of which he realized a competency. He intended his son +to follow his own business, but the youth was irresistibly attracted +to scientific pursuits, in which his father liberally encouraged him; +and he was placed first under the care of Dr. Doddridge, at +Northampton, and afterwards at the University of Edinburgh, where he +applied himself to the study of medicine, and especially of +chemistry, which was then attracting considerable attention at the +principal seats of learning in Scotland. While residing at Edinburgh +young Roebuck contracted many intimate friendships with men who +afterwards became eminent in literature, such as Hume and Robertson +the historians, and the circumstance is supposed to have contributed +not a little to his partiality in favour of Scotland, and his +afterwards selecting it as the field for his industrial operations. + +After graduating as a physician at Leyden, Roebuck returned to +England, and settled at Birmingham in the year 1745 for the purpose +of practising his profession. Birmingham was then a principal seat of +the metal manufacture, and its mechanics were reputed to be among the +most skilled in Britain. Dr. Roebuck's attention was early drawn to +the scarcity and dearness of the material in which the mechanics +worked, and he sought by experiment to devise some method of smelting +iron otherwise than by means of charcoal. He had a laboratory fitted +up in his house for the purpose of prosecuting his inquiries, and +there he spent every minute that he could spare from his professional +labours. It was thus that he invented the process of smelting iron by +means of pit-coal which he afterwards embodied in the patent +hereafter to be referred to. At the same time he invented new methods +of refining gold and silver, and of employing them in the arts, which +proved of great practical value to the Birmingham trades-men, who +made extensive use of them in their various processes of manufacture. + +Dr. Roebuck's inquiries had an almost exclusively practical +direction, and in pursuing them his main object was to render them +subservient to the improvement of the industrial arts. Thus he sought +to devise more economical methods of producing the various chemicals +used in the Birmingham trade, such as ammonia, sublimate, and several +of the acids; and his success was such as to induce him to erect a +large laboratory for their manufacture, which was conducted with +complete success by his friend Mr. Garbett. Among his inventions of +this character, was the modern process of manufacturing vitriolic +acid in leaden vessels in large quantities, instead of in glass +vessels in small quantities as formerly practised. His success led +him to consider the project of establishing a manufactory for the +purpose of producing oil of vitriol on a large scale; and, having +given up his practice as a physician, he resolved, with his partner +Mr. Garbett, to establish the proposed works in the neighbourhood of +Edinburgh. He removed to Scotland with that object, and began the +manufacture of vitriol at Prestonpans in the year 1749. The +enterprise proved eminently lucrative, and, encouraged by his +success, Roebuck proceeded to strike out new branches of manufacture. +He started a pottery for making white and brown ware, which +eventually became established, and the manufacture exists in the same +neighbourhood to this day. + +The next enterprise in which he became engaged was one of still +greater importance, though it proved eminently unfortunate in its +results as concerned himself. While living at Prestonpans, he made +the friendship of Mr. William Cadell, of Cockenzie, a gentleman who +had for some time been earnestly intent on developing the industry of +Scotland, then in a very backward condition. Mr. Cadell had tried, +without success, to establish a manufactory of iron; and, though he +had heretofore failed, he hoped that with the aid of Dr. Roebuck he +might yet succeed. The Doctor listened to his suggestions with +interest, and embraced the proposed enterprise with zeal. He +immediately proceeded to organize a company, in which he was joined +by a number of his friends and relatives. His next step was to select +a site for the intended works, and make the necessary arrangements +for beginning the manufacture of iron. After carefully examining the +country on both sides of the Forth, he at length made choice of a +site on the banks of the river Carron, in Stirlingshire, where there +was an abundant supply of wafer, and an inexhaustible supply of iron, +coal, and limestone in the immediate neighbourhood, and there Dr. +Roebuck planted the first ironworks in Scotland, + +In order to carry them on with the best chances of success, he +brought a large number of skilled workmen from England, who formed a +nucleus of industry at Carron, where their example and improved +methods of working served to train the native labourers in their art. +At a subsequent period, Mr. Cadell, of Carronpark, also brought a +number of skilled English nail-makers into Scotland, and settled them +in the village of Camelon, where, by teaching others, the business +has become handed down to the present day. + +The first furnace was blown at Carron on the first day of January, +1760; and in the course of the same year the Carron Iron Works turned +out 1500 tons of iron, then the whole annual produce of Scotland. +Other furnaces were shortly after erected on improved plans, and the +production steadily increased. Dr. Roebuck was indefatigable in his +endeavours to improve the manufacture, and he was one of the first, +as we have said, to revive the use of pit-coal in refining the ore, +as appears from his patent of 1762. He there describes his new +process as follows: -- "I melt pig or any kind of cast-iron in a +hearth heated with pit-coal by the blast of bellows, and work the +metal until it is reduced to nature, which I take out of the fire and +separate to pieces; then I take the metal thus reduced to nature and +expose it to the action of a hollow pit-coal fire, heated by the +blast of bellows, until it is reduced to a loop, which I draw out +under a common forge hammer into bar-iron." This method of +manufacture was followed with success, though for some time, as +indeed to this day, the principal production of the Carron Works was +castings, for which the peculiar quality of the Scotch iron admirably +adapts it. The well-known Carronades,* + [footnote... +The carronade was invented by General Robert Melville [Mr. Nasmyth +says it was by Miller of Dalswinton], who proposed it for discharging +68 lb, shot with low charges of powder, in order to produce the +increased splintering or SMASHING effects which were known to result +from such practice. The first piece of the kind was cast at the +Carron Foundry, in 1779, and General Melville's family have now in +their possession a small model of this gun, with the inscription: -- +"Gift of the Carron Company to Lieutenant-general Melville, inventor +of the smashers and lesser carronades, for solid, ship, shell, and +carcass shot, &c. First used against French ships in 1779." + ...] +or "Smashers," as they were named, were cast in large numbers at the +Carron Works. To increase the power of his blowing apparatus, +Dr.Roebuck called to his aid the celebrated Mr. Smeaton, the +engineer, who contrived and erected for him at Carron the most +perfect apparatus of the kind then in existence. It may also be +added, that out of the Carron enterprise, in a great measure, sprang +the Forth and Clyde Canal, the first artificial navigation in +Scotland. The Carron Company, with a view to securing an improved +communication with Glasgow, themselves surveyed a line, which was +only given up in consequence of the determined opposition of the +landowners; but the project was again revived through their means, +and was eventually carried out after the designs of Smeaton and +Brindley. + +While the Carron foundry was pursuing a career of safe prosperity, +Dr. Roebuck's enterprise led him to embark in coal-mining, with the +object of securing an improved supply of fuel for the iron works. He +became the lessee of the Duke of Hamilton's extensive coal-mines at +Boroughstoness, as well as of the salt-pans which were connected with +them. The mansion of Kinneil went with the lease,and there Dr. +Roebuck and his family took up their abode. Kinneil House was +formerly a country seat of the Dukes of Hamilton, and is to this day +a stately old mansion, reminding one of a French chateau. Its +situation is of remarkable beauty, its windows overlooking the broad +expanse of the Firth of Forth, and commanding an extensive view of +the country along its northern shores. The place has become in a +measure classical, Kinneil House having been inhabited, since Dr. +Roebuck's time, by Dugald Stewart, who there wrote his Philosophical +Essays.* + [footnote... +Wilkie the painter once paid him a visit there while in Scotland +studying the subject of his "Penny Wedding;" and Dugald Stewart found +for him the old farm-house with the cradle-chimney, which he +introduced in that picture. But Kinneil House has had its imaginary +inhabitants as well as its real ones, the ghost of a Lady Lilburn, +once an occupant of the place, still "haunting" some of the +unoccupied chambers. Dugald Stewart told Wilkie one night, as he was +going to bed, of the unearthly wailings which he himself had heard +proceeding from the ancient apartments; but to him at least they had +been explained by the door opening out upon the roof being blown in +on gusty nights, when a jarring and creaking noise was heard all over +the house. One advantage derived from the house being "haunted" was, +that the garden was never broken into, and the winter apples and +stores were at all times kept safe from depredation in the apartments +of the Lady Lilburn. + ...] +When Dr. Roebuck began to sink for coal at the new mines, he found it +necessary to erect pumping-machinery of the most powerful kind that +could be contrived, in order to keep the mines clear of water. For +this purpose the Newcomen engine, in its then state, was found +insufficient; and when Dr. Roebuck's friend, Professor Black, of +Edinburgh, informed him of a young man of his acquaintance, a +mathematical instrument maker at Glasgow, having invented a +steam-engine calculated to work with increased power, speed, and +economy, compared with Newcomen's; Dr. Roebuck was much interested, +and shortly after entered into a correspondence with James Watt, the +mathematical instrument maker aforesaid on the subject. The Doctor +urged that Watt, who, up to that time, had confined himself to +models, should come over to Kinneil House, and proceed to erect a +working; engine in one of the outbuildings. The English workmen whom +he had brought; to the Carron works would, he justly thought, give +Watt a better chance of success with his engine than if made by the +clumsy whitesmiths and blacksmiths of Glasgow, quite unaccustomed as +they were to first-class work; and he proposed himself to cast the +cylinders at Carron previous to Watt's intended visit to him at +Kinneil. + +Watt paid his promised visit in May, 1768, and Roebuck was by this +time so much interested in the invention, that the subject of his +becoming a partner with Watt, with the object of introducing the +engine into general use, was seriously discussed. Watt had been +labouring at his invention for several years, contending with many +difficulties, but especially with the main difficulty of limited +means. He had borrowed considerable sums of money from Dr. Black to +enable him to prosecute his experiments, and he felt the debt to hang +like a millstone round his neck. Watt was a sickly, fragile man, and +a constant sufferer from violent headaches; besides he was by nature +timid, desponding, painfully anxious, and easily cast down by +failure. Indeed, he was more than once on the point of abandoning his +invention in despair. On the other hand, Dr. Roebuck was accustomed +to great enterprises, a bold and undaunted man, and disregardful of +expense where he saw before him a reasonable prospect of success. His +reputation as a practical chemist and philosopher, and his success as +the founder of the Prestonpans Chemical Works and of the Carron Iron +Works, justified the friends of Watt in thinking that he was of all +men the best calculated to help him at this juncture, and hence they +sought to bring about a more intimate connection between the two. The +result was that Dr. Roebuck eventually became a partner to the extent +of two-thirds of the invention, took upon him the debt owing by Watt +to Dr. Black amounting to about 1200L., and undertook to find the +requisite money to protect the invention by means of a patent. The +necessary steps were taken accordingly and the patent right was +secured by the beginning of 1769, though the perfecting of his model +cost Watt much further anxiety and study. + +It was necessary for Watt occasionally to reside with Dr. Roebuck at +Kinneil House while erecting his first engine there. It had been +originally intended to erect it in the neighbouring town of +Boroughstoness, but as there might be prying eyes there, and Watt +wished to do his work in privacy, determined "not to puff," he at +length fixed upon an outhouse still standing, close behind the +mansion, by the burnside in the glen, where there was abundance of +water and secure privacy. Watt's extreme diffidence was often the +subject of remark at Dr. Roebuck's fireside. To the Doctor his +anxiety seemed quite painful, and he was very much disposed to +despond under apparently trivial difficulties. Roebuck's hopeful +nature was his mainstay throughout. Watt himself was ready enough to +admit this; for, writing to his friend Dr.Small, he once said, "I +have met with many disappointments; and I must have sunk under the +burthen of them if I had not been supported by the friendship of Dr. +Roebuck." + +But more serious troubles were rapidly accumulating upon Dr. Roebuck +himself; and it was he, and not Watt, that sank under the burthen. +The progress of Watt's engine was but slow, and long before it could +be applied to the pumping of Roebuck's mines, the difficulties of the +undertaking on which he had entered overwhelmed him. The opening out +of the principal coal involved a very heavy outlay, extending over +many years, during which he sank not only his own but his wife's +fortune, and--what distressed him most of all--large sums borrowed +from his relatives and friends, which he was unable to repay. The +consequence was, that he was eventually under the necessity of +withdrawing his capital from the refining works at Birmingham, and +the vitriol works at Prestonpans. At the same time, he transferred to +Mr. Boulton of Soho his entire interest in Watt's steam-engine, the +value of which, by the way, was thought so small that it was not even +included among the assets; Roebuck's creditors not estimating it as +worth one farthing. Watt sincerely deplored his partner's +misfortunes, but could not help him. "He has been a most sincere and +generous friend," said Watt, "and is a truly worthy man." And again, +"My heart bleeds for him, but I can do nothing to help him: I have +stuck by him till I have much hurt myself; I can do so no longer; my +family calls for my care to provide for them." The later years of Dr. +Roebuck's life were spent in comparative obscurity; and he died in +1794, in his 76th year. + +He lived to witness the success of the steam-engine, the opening up +of the Boroughstoness coal,* + [footnote... +Dr. Roebuck had been on the brink of great good fortune, but he did +not know it. Mr. Ralph Moore, in his "Papers on the Blackband +Ironstones" (Glasgow, 1861), observes: -- "Strange to say, he was +leaving behind him, almost as the roof of one of the seams of coal +which he worked, a valuable blackband ironstone, upon which Kinneil +Iron Works are now founded. The coal-field continued to be worked +until the accidental discovery of the blackband about 1845. The old +coal-pits are now used for working the ironstone." + ...] +and the rapid extension of the Scotch iron trade, though he shared in +the prosperity of neither of those branches of industry. He had been +working ahead of his age, and he suffered for it. He fell in the +breach at the critical moment, and more fortunate men marched over +his body into the fortress which his enterprise and valour had mainly +contributed to win. Before his great undertaking of the Carron Works, +Scotland was entirely dependent upon other countries for its supply +of iron. In 1760, the first year of its operations, the whole produce +was 1500 tons. In course of time other iron works were erected, at +Clyde Cleugh, Muirkirk, and Devon--the managers and overseers of +which, as well as the workmen, had mostly received their training and +experience at Carron--until at length the iron trade of Scotland has +assumed such a magnitude that its manufacturers are enabled to export +to England and other countries upwards of 500,000 tons a-year. How +different this state of things from the time when raids were made +across the Border for the purpose of obtaining a store of iron +plunder to be carried back into Scotland! + +The extraordinary expansion of the Scotch iron trade of late years +has been mainly due to the discovery by David Mushet of the Black +Band ironstone in 1801, and the invention of the Hot Blast by James +Beaumont Neilson in 1828. David Mushet was born at Dalkeith, near +Edinburgh, in 1772.* + [footnpote... +The Mushets are an old Kincardine family; but they were almost +extinguished by the plague in the reign of Charles the Second. Their +numbers were then reduced to two; one of whom remained at Kincardine, +and the other, a clergyman, the Rev. George Mushet , accompanied +Montrose as chaplain. He is buried in Kincardine churchyard. + ...] +Like other members of his family he was brought up to metal-founding. +At the age of nineteen he joined the staff of the Clyde Iron Works, +near Glasgow, at a time when the Company had only two blast-furnaces +at work. The office of accountant, which he held, precluded him from +taking any part in the manufacturing operations of the concern. But +being of a speculative and ingenious turn of mind, the remarkable +conversions which iron underwent in the process of manufacture very +shortly began to occupy his attention. The subject was much discussed +by the young men about the works, and they frequently had occasion to +refer to Foureroy's well-known book for the purpose of determining +various questions of difference which arose among them in the course +of their inquiries. The book was, however, in many respects +indecisive and unsatisfactory; and, in 1793, when a reduction took +place in the Company's staff, and David Mushet was left nearly the +sole occupant of the office, he determined to study the subject for +himself experimentally, and in the first place to acquire a thorough +knowledge of assaying, as the true key to the whole art of +iron-making. + +He first set up his crucible upon the bridge of the reverberatory +furnace used for melting pig-iron, and filled it with a mixture +carefully compounded according to the formula of the books; but, +notwithstanding the shelter of a brick, placed before it to break the +action of the flame, the crucible generally split in two, and not +unfrequently melted and disappeared altogether. To obtain better +results if possible, he next had recourse to the ordinary smith's +fire, carrying on his experiments in the evenings after office-hours. +He set his crucible upon the fire on a piece of fire brick, opposite +the nozzle of the bellows; covering the whole with coke, and then +exciting the flame by blowing. This mode of operating produced +somewhat better results, but still neither the iron nor the cinder +obtained resembled the pig or scoria of the blast-furnace, which it +was his ambition to imitate. From the irregularity of the results, +and the frequent failure of the crucibles, he came to the conclusion +that either his furnace, or his mode of fluxing, was in fault, and he +looked about him for a more convenient means of pursuing his +experiments. A small square furnace had been erected in the works for +the purpose of heating the rivets used for the repair of steam-engine +boilers; the furnace had for its chimney a cast-iron pipe six or +seven inches in diameter and nine feet long. After a few trials with +it, he raised the heat to such an extent that the lower end of the +pipe was melted off, without producing any very satisfactory results +on the experimental crucible, and his operations were again brought +to a standstill. A chimney of brick having been substituted for the +cast-iron pipe, he was, however, enabled to proceed with his trials. + +He continued to pursue his experiments in assaying for about two +years, during which he had been working entirely after the methods +described in books; but, feeling the results still unsatisfactory, he +determined to borrow no more from the books, but to work out a system +of his own, which should ensure results similar to those produced at +the blast-furnace. This he eventually succeeded in effecting by +numerous experiments performed in the night; as his time was fully +occupied by his office-duties during the day. At length these patient +experiments bore their due fruits. David Mushet became the most +skilled assayer at the works; and when a difficulty occurred in +smelting a quantity of new ironstone which had been contracted for, +the manager himself resorted to the bookkeeper for advice and +information; and the skill and experience which he had gathered +during his nightly labours, enabled him readily and satisfactorily to +solve the difficulty and suggest a suitable remedy. His reward for +this achievement was the permission, which was immediately granted +him by the manager, to make use of his own assay-furnace, in which he +thenceforward continued his investigations, at the same time that he +instructed the manager's son in the art of assaying. This additional +experience proved of great benefit to him; and he continued to +prosecute his inquiries with much zeal, sometimes devoting entire +nights to experiments in assaying, roasting and cementing iron-ores +and ironstone, decarbonating cast-iron for steel and bar-iron, and +various like operations. His general practice, however, at that time +was, to retire between two and three o'clock in the morning, leaving +directions with the engine-man to call him at half-past five, so as +to be present in the office at six. But these praiseworthy +experiments were brought to a sudden end, as thus described by +himself: -- + +"In the midst of my career of investigation," says he,* + [footnote... +Papers on Iron and Steel. By David Mushet. London, 1840. + ...] +"and without a cause being assigned, I was stopped short. My +furnaces, at the order of the manager, were pulled in pieces, and an +edict was passed that they should never be erected again. Thus +terminated my researches at the Clyde Iron Works. It happened at a +time when I was interested--and I had been two years previously +occupied--in an attempt to convert cast-iron into steel, without +fusion, by a process of cementation, which had for its object the +dispersion or absorption of the superfluous carbon contained in the +cast-iron,--an object which at that time appeared to me of so great +importance, that, with the consent of a friend, I erected an assay +and cementing Furnace at the distance of about two miles from the +Clyde Works. Thither I repaired at night, and sometimes at the +breakfast and dinner hours during the day. This plan of operation was +persevered in for the whole of one summer, but was found too +uncertain and laborious to be continued. At the latter end of the +year 1798 I left my chambers, and removed from the Clyde Works to the +distance of about a mile, where I constructed several furnaces for +assaying and cementing, capable of exciting a greater temperature +than any to which I before had access; and thus for nearly two years +I continued to carry on my investigations connected with iron and the +alloys of the metals. + +"Though operating in a retired manner, and holding little +communication with others, my views and opinions upon the RATIONALE +of iron-making spread over the establishment. I was considered +forward in affecting to see and explain matters in a different way +from others who were much my seniors, and who were content to be +satisfied with old methods of explanation, or with no explanation at +all..... Notwithstanding these early reproaches, I have lived to see +the nomenclature of my youth furnish a vocabulary of terms in the art +of iron-making, which is used by many of the ironmasters of the +present day with freedom and effect, in communicating with each other +on the subject of their respective manufactures. Prejudices seldom +outlive the generation to which they belong, when opposed by a more +rational system of explanation. In this respect, Time (as my Lord +Bacon says) is the greatest of all innovators. + +"In a similar manner, Time operated in my favour in respect to the +Black Band Ironstone.* + [footnote... +This valuable description of iron ore was discovered by Mr. Mushet, +as he afterwards informs us (Papers on Iron and Steel, 121),in the +year 1801, when crossing the river Calder, in the parish of Old +Monkland. Having subjected a specimen which he found in the river-bed +to the test of his crucible, he satisfied himself as to its +properties, and proceeded to ascertain its geological position and +relations. He shortly found that it belonged to the upper part of the +coal-formation, and hence he designated it carboniferous ironstone. +He prosecuted his researches, and found various rich beds of the +mineral distributed throughout the western counties of Scotland. On +analysis, it was found to contain a little over 50 per cent. of +protoxide of iron. The coaly matter it contained was not its least +valuable ingredient; for by the aid of the hot blast it was +afterwards found practicable to smelt it almost without any addition +of coal. Seams of black band have since been discovered and +successfully worked in Edinburghshire, Staffordshire, and North +Wales. + ...] +The discovery of this was made in 1801, when I was engaged in +erecting for myself and partners the Calder Iron Works. Great +prejudice was excited against me by the ironmasters and others of +that day in presuming to class the WILD COALS of the country (as +Black Band was called) with ironstone fit and proper for the blast +furnace. Yet that discovery has elevated Scotland to a considerable +rank among the iron-making nations of Europe, with resources still in +store that may be considered inexhaustible. But such are the +consolatory effects of Time, that the discoverer of 1801 is no longer +considered the intrusive visionary of the laboratory, but the +acknowledged benefactor of his country at large, and particularly of +an extensive class of coal and mine proprietors and iron masters, who +have derived, and are still deriving, great wealth from this +important discovery; and who, in the spirit of grateful +acknowledgment, have pronounced it worthy of a crown of gold, or a +monumental record on the spot where the discovery was first made. + +"At an advanced period of life, such considerations are soothing and +satisfactory. Many under similar circumstances have not, in their own +lifetime, had that measure of justice awarded to them by their +country to which they were equally entitled. I accept it, however, as +a boon justly due to me, and as an equivalent in some degree for that +laborious course of investigation which I had prescribed for myself, +and which, in early life, was carried on under circumstances of +personal exposure and inconvenience, which nothing but a frame of +iron could have supported. They atone also ,in part, for that +disappointment sustained in early life by the speculative habits of +one partner, and the constitutional nervousness of another, which +eventually occasioned my separation from the Calder Iron Works, and +lost me the possession of extensive tracts of Black Band iron-stone, +which I had secured while the value of the discovery was known only +to myself." + +Mr. Mushet published the results of his laborious investigations in a +series of papers in the Philosophical Magazine,--afterwards reprinted +in a collected form in 1840 under the title of "Papers on Iron and +Steel." These papers are among the most valuable original +contributions to the literature of the iron-manufacture that have yet +been given to the world. They contain the germs of many inventions +and discoveries in iron and steel, some of which were perfected by +Mr. Mushet himself, while others were adopted and worked out by +different experimenters. In 1798 some of the leading French chemists +were endeavouring to prove by experiment that steel could be made by +contact of the diamond with bar-iron in the crucible, the carbon of +the diamond being liberated and entering into combination with the +iron, forming steel. In the animated controversy which occurred on +the subject, Mr. Mushet's name was brought into considerable notice; +one of the subjects of his published experiments having been the +conversion of bar-iron into steel in the crucible by contact with +regulated proportions of charcoal. The experiments which he made in +connection with this controversy, though in themselves unproductive +of results, led to the important discovery by Mr. Mushet of the +certain fusibility of malleable iron at a suitable temperature. + +Among the other important results of Mr. Mushet's lifelong labours, +the following may be summarily mentioned: The preparation of steel +from bar-iron by a direct process, combining the iron with carbon; +the discovery of the beneficial effects of oxide of manganese on iron +and steel; the use of oxides of iron in the puddling-furnace in +various modes of appliance; the production of pig-iron from the +blast-furnace, suitable for puddling, without the intervention of the +refinery; and the application of the hot blast to anthracite coal in +iron-smelting. For the process of combining iron with carbon for the +production of steel, Mr. Mushet took out a patent in November, 1800; +and many years after, when he had discovered the beneficial effects +of oxide of manganese on steel, Mr. Josiah Heath founded upon it his +celebrated patent for the making of cast-steel, which had the effect +of raising the annual production of that metal in Sheffield from 3000 +to 100,000 tons. His application of the hot blast to anthracite coal, +after a process invented by him and adopted by the Messrs. Hill of +the Plymouth Iron Works, South Wales, had the effect of producing +savings equal to about 20,000L. a year at those works; and yet, +strange to say, Mr. Mushet himself never received any consideration +for his invention. + +The discovery of Titanium by Mr. Mushet in the hearth of a +blast-furnace in 1794 would now be regarded as a mere isolated fact, +inasmuch as Titanium was not placed in the list of recognised metals +until Dr. Wollaston, many years later, ascertained its qualities. But +in connection with the fact, it may be mentioned that Mr. Mushet's +youngest son, Robert, reasoning on the peculiar circumstances of the +discovery in question, of which ample record is left, has founded +upon it his Titanium process, which is expected by him eventually to +supersede all other methods of manufacturing steel, and to reduce +very materially the cost of its production. + +While he lived, Mr. Mushet was a leading authority on all matters +connected with Iron and Steel, and he contributed largely to the +scientific works of his time. Besides his papers in the Philosophical +Journal, he wrote the article "Iron" for Napiers Supplement to the +Encyclopaedia Britannica; and the articles "Blast Furnace" and +"Blowing Machine" for Rees's Cyclopaedia. The two latter articles had +a considerable influence on the opposition to the intended tax upon +iron in 1807, and were frequently referred to in the discussions on +the subject in Parliament. Mr. Mushet died in 1847. + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +INVENTION OF THE HOT BLAST--JAMES BEAUMONT NEILSON. + +"Whilst the exploits of the conqueror and the intrigues of the +demagogue are faithfully preserved through a succession of ages, the +persevering and unobtrusive efforts of genius, developing the best +blessings of the Deity to man, are often consigned to oblivion."-- +David Mushet. + + +The extraordinary value of the Black Band ironstone was not at first +duly recognised, perhaps not even by Mr. Mushet himself. For several +years after its discovery by him, its use was confined to the Calder +Iron Works, where it was employed in mixture with other ironstones of +the argillaceous class. It was afterwards partially used at the Clyde +Iron Works, but nowhere else, a strong feeling of prejudice being +entertained against it on the part of the iron trade generally. It +was not until the year 1825 that the Monkland Company used it alone, +without any other mixture than the necessary quantity of limestone +for a flux. "The success of this Company," says Mr. Mushet, "soon +gave rise to the Gartsherrie and Dundyvan furnaces, in the midst of +which progress came the use of raw pit-coal and the Hot Blast--the +latter one of the greatest discoveries in metallurgy of the present +age, and, above every other process, admirably adapted for smelting +the Blackband ironstone." From the introduction of this process the +extraordinary development of the iron-manufacture of Scotland may be +said to date; and we accordingly propose to devote the present +chapter to an account of its meritorious inventor. + +James Beaumont Neilson was born at Shettleston, a roadside village +about three miles eastward of Glasgow, on the 22nd of June, 1792. His +parents belonged to the working class. His father's earnings during +many laborious years of his life did not exceed sixteen shillings a +week. He had been bred to the trade of a mill-wright, and was for +some time in the employment of Dr. Roebuck as an engine-wright at his +colliery near Boroughstoness. He was next employed in a like capacity +by Mr. Beaumont, the mineral-manager of the collieries of Mrs. +Cunningham of Lainshaw, near Irvine in Ayrshire; after which he was +appointed engine-wright at Ayr, and subsequently at the Govan Coal +Works near Glasgow, where he remained until his death. It was while +working at the Irvine Works that he first became acquainted with his +future wife, Marion Smith, the daughter of a Renfrewshire bleacher, a +woman remarkable through life for her clever, managing, and +industrious habits. She had the charge of Mrs. Cunningham's children +for some time after the marriage of that lady to Mr. Beaumont, and it +was in compliment to her former mistress and her husband that she +named her youngest son James Beaumont after the latter. + +The boy's education was confined to the common elements of reading, +writing, and arithmetic, which he partly acquired at the parish +school of Strathbungo near Glasgow, and partly at the Chapel School, +as it was called, in the Gorbals at Glasgow. He had finally left +school before he was fourteen. Some time before he left, he had been +partially set to work, and earned four shillings a week by employing +a part of each day in driving a small condensing engine which his +father had put up in a neighbouring quarry. After leaving school, he +was employed for two years as a gig boy on one of the winding engines +at the Govan colliery. His parents now considered him of fit age to +be apprenticed to some special trade, and as Beaumont had much of his +father's tastes for mechanical pursuits, it was determined to put him +apprentice to a working engineer. His elder brother John was then +acting as engineman at Oakbank near Glasgow, and Beaumont was +apprenticed under him to learn the trade. John was a person of a +studious and serious turn of mind, and had been strongly attracted to +follow the example of the brothers Haldane, who were then exciting +great interest by their preaching throughout the North; but his +father set his face against his son's "preaching at the back o' +dikes," as he called it; and so John quietly settled down to his +work. The engine which the two brothers managed was a very small one, +and the master and apprentice served for engineman and fireman. Here +the youth worked for three years, employing his leisure hours in the +evenings in remedying the defects of his early education, and +endeavouring to acquire a knowledge of English grammar, drawing, and +mathematics. + +On the expiry of his apprenticeship, Beaumont continued for a time to +work under his brother as journeyman at a guinea a week; after which, +in 1814, he entered the employment of William Taylor, coal-master at +Irvine, and he was appointed engine-wright of the colliery at a +salary of from 70L. to 80L. a year. One of the improvements which he +introduced in the working of the colliery, while he held that office, +was the laying down of an edge railway of cast-iron, in lengths of +three feet, from the pit to the harbour of Irvine, a distance of +three miles. At the age of 23 he married his first wife, Barbara +Montgomerie, an Irvine lass, with a "tocher" of 250L. This little +provision was all the more serviceable to him, as his master, Taylor, +becoming unfortunate in business, he was suddenly thrown out of +employment, and the little fortune enabled the newly-married pair to +hold their heads above water till better days came round. They took a +humble tenement, consisting of a room and a kitchen, in the +Cowcaddens, Glasgow, where their first child was born. + +About this time a gas-work, the first in Glasgow, was projected, and +the company having been formed, the directors advertised for a +superintendent and foreman, to whom they offered a "liberal salary." +Though Beaumont had never seen gaslight before, except at the +illumination of his father's colliery office after the Peace of +Amiens, which was accomplished in a very simple and original manner, +without either condenser, purifier, or gas-holder, and though he knew +nothing of the art of gas-making, he had the courage to apply for the +situation. He was one of twenty candidates, and the fortunate one; +and in August, 1817, we find him appointed foreman of the Glasgow +Gasworks, for five years, at the salary of 90L. a year. Before the +expiry of his term he was reappointed for six years more, at the +advanced salary of 200L., with the status of manager and engineer of +the works. His salary was gradually increased to 400L. a year, with a +free dwelling-house, until 1847, when, after a faithful service of +thirty years, during which he had largely extended the central works, +and erected branch works in Tradeston and Partick, he finally +resigned the management. + +The situation of manager of the Glasgow Gas-works was in many +respects well suited for the development of Mr. Neilson's peculiar +abilities. In the first place it afforded him facilities for +obtaining theoretical as well as practical knowledge in Chemical +Science, of which he was a diligent student at the Andersonian +University, as well as of Natural Philosophy and Mathematics in their +higher branches. In the next place it gave free scope for his +ingenuity in introducing improvements in the manufacture of gas, then +in its infancy. He was the first to employ clay retorts; and he +introduced sulphate of iron as a self-acting purifier, passing the +gas through beds of charcoal to remove its oily and tarry elements. +The swallow-tail or union jet was also his invention, and it has +since come into general use. + +While managing the Gas-works, one of Mr.Neilson's labours of love was +the establishment and direction by him of a Workmen's Institution for +mutual improvement. Having been a workman himself, and experienced +the disadvantages of an imperfect education in early life, as well as +the benefits arising from improved culture in later years, he desired +to impart some of these advantages to the workmen in his employment, +who consisted chiefly of persons from remote parts of the Highlands +or from Ireland. Most of them could not even read, and his principal +difficulty consisted in persuading them that it was of any use to +learn. For some time they resisted his persuasions to form a +Workmen's Institution, with a view to the establishment of a library, +classes, and lectures, urging as a sufficient plea for not joining +it, that they could not read, and that books would be of no use to +them. At last Mr. Neilson succeeded, though with considerable +difficulty, in inducing fourteen of the workmen to adopt his plan. +Each member was to contribute a small sum monthly, to be laid out in +books, the Gas Company providing the members with a comfortable room +in which they might meet to read and converse in the evenings instead +of going to the alehouse. The members were afterwards allowed to take +the books home to read, and the room was used for the purpose of +conversation on the subjects of the books read by them, and +occasionally for lectures delivered by the members themselves on +geography, arithmetic, chemistry, and mechanics. Their numbers +increased so that the room in which they met became insufficient for +their accommodation, when the Gas Company provided them with a new +and larger place of meeting, together with a laboratory and workshop. +In the former they studied practical chemistry, and in the latter +they studied practical mechanics, making for themselves an air pump +and an electrifying machine, as well as preparing the various models +used in the course of the lectures. The effects on the workmen were +eminently beneficial, and the institution came to be cited as among +the most valuable of its kind in the kingdom.* + [footnote... +Article by Dugald Bannatyne in Glasgow Mechanic's Magazine, No. 53, +Dec. 1824. + ...] +Mr. Neilson throughout watched carefully over its working, and +exerted himself in all ways to promote its usefulness, in which he +had the zealous co-operation of the leading workmen themselves, and +the gratitude of all. On the opening of the new and enlarged rooms in +1825, we find him delivering an admirable address, which was thought +worthy of republication, together with the reply of George +Sutherland, one of the workmen, in which Mr. Neilson's exertions as +its founder and chief supporter were gratefully and forcibly +expressed.* + [footnote... +Glasgow Mechanic's Magazine, vol. iii. p. 159. + ...] + +It was during the period of his connection with the Glasgow Gas-works +that Mr. Neilson directed his attention to the smelting of iron. His +views in regard to the subject were at first somewhat crude, as +appears from a paper read by him before the Glasgow Philosophical +Society early in 1825. It appears that in the course of the preceding +year his attention had been called to the subject by an iron-maker, +who asked him if he thought it possible to purify the air blown into +the blast furnaces, in like manner as carburetted hydrogen gas was +purified. The ironmaster supposed that it was the presence of sulphur +in the air that caused blast-furnaces to work irregularly, and to +make bad iron in the summer months. Mr. Neilson was of opinion that +this was not the true cause, and he was rather disposed to think it +attributable to the want of a due proportion of oxygen in summer, +when the air was more rarefied, besides containing more aqueous +vapour than in winter. He therefore thought the true remedy was in +some way or other to throw in a greater proportion of oxygen; and he +suggested that, in order to dry the air, it should be passed, on its +way to the furnace, through two long tunnels containing calcined +lime. But further inquiry served to correct his views, and eventually +led him to the true theory of blasting. + +Shortly after, his attention was directed by Mr. James Ewing to a +defect in one of the Muirkirk blast-furnaces, situated about half a +mile distant from the blowing-engine, which was found not to work so +well as others which were situated close to it. The circumstances of +the case led Mr. Neilson to form the opinion that, as air increases +in volume according to temperature, if he were to heat it by passing +it through a red-hot vessel, its volume would be increased, according +to the well-known law, and the blast might thus be enabled to do more +duty in the distant furnace. He proceeded to make a series of +experiments at the Gas-works, trying the effect of heated air on the +illuminating power of gas, by bringing up a stream of it in a tube so +as to surround the gas-burner. He found that by this means the +combustion of the gas was rendered more intense, and its illuminating +power greatly increased. He proceeded to try a similar experiment on +a common smith's fire, by blowing the fire with heated air, and the +effect was the same; the fire was much more brilliant, and +accompanied by an unusually intense degree of heat. + +Having obtained such marked results by these small experiments, it +naturally occurred to him that a similar increase in intensity of +combustion and temperature would attend the application of the +process to the blast-furnace on a large scale; but being only a +gas-maker, he had the greatest difficulty in persuading any +ironmaster to permit him to make the necessary experiment's with +blast-furnaces actually at work. Besides, his theory was altogether +at variance with the established practice, which was to supply air as +cold as possible, the prevailing idea being that the coldness of the +air in winter was the cause of the best iron being then produced. +Acting on these views, the efforts of the ironmasters had always been +directed to the cooling of the blast, and various expedients were +devised for the purpose. Thus the regulator was painted white, as +being the coolest colour; the air was passed over cold water, and in +some cases the air pipes were even surrounded by ice, all with the +object of keeping the blast cold. When, therefore, Mr. Neilson +proposed entirely to reverse the process, and to employ hot instead +of cold blast, the incredulity of the ironmasters may well be +imagined. What! Neilson, a mere maker of gas, undertake to instruct +practical men in the manufacture of iron! And to suppose that heated +air can be used for the purpose! It was presumption in the extreme, +or at best the mere visionary idea of a person altogether +unacquainted with the subject! + +At length, however, Mr. Neilson succeeded in inducing Mr. Charles +Macintosh of Crossbasket, and Mr. Colin Dunlop of the Clyde Iron +Works, to allow him to make a trial of the hot air process. In the +first imperfect attempts the air was heated to little more than 80 +degrees Fahrenheit, yet the results were satisfactory, and the +scoriae from the furnace evidently contained less iron. He was +therefore desirous of trying his plan upon a more extensive scale, +with the object, if possible, of thoroughly establishing the +soundness of his principle. In this he was a good deal hampered even +by those ironmasters who were his friends, and had promised him the +requisite opportunities for making a fair trial of the new process. +They strongly objected to his making the necessary alterations in the +furnaces, and he seemed to be as far from a satisfactory experiment +as ever. In one instance, where he had so far succeeded as to be +allowed to heat the blast-main, he asked permission to introduce +deflecting plates in the main or to put a bend in the pipe, so as to +bring the blast more closely against the heated sides of the pipe, +and also increase the area of heating surface, in order to raise the +temperature to a higher point; but this was refused, and it was said +that if even a bend were put in the pipe the furnace would stop +working. These prejudices proved a serious difficulty in the way of +our inventor, and several more years passed before he was allowed to +put a bend in the blast-main. After many years of perseverance, he +was, however, at length enabled to work out his plan into a definite +shape at the Clyde Iron Works, and its practical value was at once +admitted. At the meeting of the Mechanical Engineers' Society held in +May, 1859, Mr. Neilson explained that his invention consisted solely +in the principle of heating the blast between the engine and the +furnace, and was not associated with any particular construction of +the intermediate heating apparatus. This, he said, was the cause of +its success; and in some respects it resembled the invention of his +countryman, James Watt, who, in connection with the steam-engine, +invented the plan of condensing the steam in a separate vessel, and +was successful in maintaining his invention by not limiting it to any +particular construction of the condenser. On the same occasion he +took the opportunity of acknowledging the firmness with which the +English ironmasters had stood by him when attempts were made to +deprive him of the benefits of his invention; and to them he +acknowledged he was mainly indebted for the successful issue of the +severe contests he had to undergo. For there were, of course, certain +of the ironmasters, both English and Scotch, supporters of the cause +of free trade in others' inventions, who sought to resist the patent, +after it had come into general use, and had been recognised as one of +the most valuable improvements of modem times.* + [footnote... +Mr. Mushet described it as "a wonderful discovery," and one of the +"most novel and beautiful improvements in his time." Professor +Gregory of Aberdeen characterized it as "the greatest improvement +with which he was acquainted." Mr. Jessop, an extensive English iron +manufacturer, declared it to be "of as great advantage in the iron +trade as Arkwright's machinery was in the cotton-spinning trade; and +Mr. Fairbairn, in his contribution on "Iron" in the Encyclopaedia +Britannica, says that it "has effected an entire revolution in the +iron industry of Great Britain, and forms the last era in the history +of this material." + ...] + +The patent was secured in 1828 for a term of fourteen years; but, as +Mr. Neilson did not himself possess the requisite capital to enable +him to perfect the invention, or to defend it if attacked, he found +it necessary to invite other gentlemen, able to support him in these +respects, to share its profits; retaining for himself only +three-tenths of the whole. His partners were Mr. Charles Macintosh, +Mr. Colin Dunlop, and Mr.John Wilson of Dundyvan. The charge made by +them was only a shilling a ton for all iron produced by the new +process; this low rate being fixed in order to ensure the +introduction of the patent into general use, as well as to reduce to +a minimum the temptations of the ironmasters to infringe it. + +The first trials of the process were made at the blast-furnaces of +Clyde and Calder; from whence the use of the hot blast gradually +extended to the other iron-mining districts. In the course of a few +years every furnace in Scotland, with one exception (that at Carron), +had adopted the improvement; while it was also employed in half the +furnaces of England and Wales, and in many of the furnaces on the +Continent and in America. In course of time, and with increasing +experience, various improvements were introduced in the process, more +particularly in the shape of the air-heating vessels; the last form +adopted being that of a congeries of tubes, similar to the tubular +arrangement in the boiler of the locomotive, by which the greatest +extent of heating surface was provided for the thorough heating of +the air. By these modifications the temperature of the air introduced +into the furnace has been raised from 240 degrees to 600 degrees, or +the temperature of melting lead. To protect the nozzle of the +air-pipe as it entered the furnace against the action of the intense +heat to which it was subjected, a spiral pipe for a stream of cold +water constantly to play in has been introduced within the sides of +the iron tuyere through which the nozzle passes; by which means the +tuyere is kept comparatively cool, while the nozzle of the air-pipe +is effectually protected.* + [footnote... +The invention of the tubular air-vessels and the water-tuyere +belongs, we believe, to Mr. John Condie, sometime manager of the +Blair Iron Works. + ...] + +This valuable invention did not escape the usual fate of successful +patents, and it was on several occasions the subject of protracted +litigation. The first action occurred in 1832; but the objectors +shortly gave in, and renewed their licence. In 1839, when the process +had become generally adopted throughout Scotland, and, indeed, was +found absolutely essential for smelting the peculiar ores of that +country--more especially Mushet's Black Band--a powerful combination +was formed amongst the ironmasters to resist the patent. The +litigation which ensued extended over five years, during which period +some twenty actions were proceeding in Scotland, and several in +England. Three juries sat upon the subject at different times, and on +three occasions appeals were carried to the House of Lords. One jury +trial occupied ten days, during which a hundred and two witnesses +were examined; the law costs on both sides amounting, it is supposed, +to at least 40,000L. The result was, that the novelty and merit of +Mr. Neilson's invention were finally established, and he was secured +in the enjoyment of the patent right. + +We are gratified to add, that, though Mr. Neilson had to part with +two-thirds of the profits of the invention to secure the capital and +influence necessary to bring it into general use, he realized +sufficient to enable him to enjoy the evening of his life in peace +and comfort. He retired from active business to an estate which he +purchased in 1851 in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, where he is +found ready to lend a hand in every good work--whether in +agricultural improvement, railway extension, or the moral and social +good of those about him. Mindful of the success of his Workmen's +Institution at the Glasgow Gas-Works, he has, almost at his own door, +erected a similar Institution for the use of the parish in which his +property is situated, the beneficial effects of which have been very +marked in the district. We may add that Mr. Neilson's merits have +been recognised by many eminent bodies--by the Institution of Civil +Engineers, the Chemical Society, and others--the last honour +conferred on him being his election as a Member of the Royal Society +in 1846. + +The invention of the hot blast, in conjunction with the discovery of +the Black Band ironstone, has had an extra ordinary effect upon the +development of the iron-manufacture of Scotland. The coals of that +country are generally unfit for coking, and lose as much as 55 per +cent. in the process. But by using the hot blast, the coal could be +sent to the blast-furnace in its raw state, by which a large saving +of fuel was effected.* + [footnote... +Mr. Mushet says, "The greatest produce in iron per furnace with the +Black Band and cold blast never exceeded 60 tons a-week. The produce +per furnace now averages 90 tons a-week. Ten tons of this I attribute +to the use of raw pit-coal, and the other twenty tons to the use of +hot blast." [Papers on Iron and Steel, 127.] The produce per furnace +is now 200 tons a-week and upwards. The hot blast process was +afterwards applied to the making of iron with the anthracite or stone +coal of Wales; for which a patent was taken out by George Crane in +1836. Before the hot blast was introduced, anthracite coal would not +act as fuel in the blast-furnace. When put in, it merely had the +effect of putting the fire out. With the aid of the hot blast, +however, it now proves to be a most valuable fuel in smelting. + ...] +Even coals of an inferior quality were by its means made available +for the manufacture of iron. But one of the peculiar qualities of the +Black Band ironstone is that in many cases it contains sufficient +coaly matter for purposes of calcination, without any admixture of +coal whatever. Before its discovery, all the iron manufactured in +Scotland was made from clay-band; but the use of the latter has in a +great measure been discontinued wherever a sufficient supply of Black +Band can be obtained. And it is found to exist very extensively in +most of the midland Scotch counties,--the coal and iron measures +stretching in a broad belt from the Firth of Forth to the Irish +Channel at the Firth of Clyde. At the time when the hot blast was +invented, the fortunes of many of the older works were at a low ebb, +and several of them had been discontinued; but they were speedily +brought to life again wherever Black Band could be found. In 1829, +the year after Neilson's patent was taken out, the total make of +Scotland was 29,000 tons. As fresh discoveries of the mineral were +made, in Ayrshire and Lanarkshire, new works were erected, until, in +1845, we find the production of Scotch pig-iron had increased to +475,000 tons. It has since increased to upwards of a million of tons, +nineteen-twentieths of which are made from Black Band ironstone.* + [footnote... +It is stated in the North British Review for Nov. 1845, that "As in +Scotland every furnace--with the exception of one at Carron--now uses +the hot blast the saving on our present produce of 400,000 tons of +pig-iron is 2,000,000 tons of coals, 200,000 tons of limestone, and +#650,000 sterling per annum." But as the Scotch produce is now above +a million tons of pig-iron a year, the above figures will have to be +multiplied by 2 1/2 to give the present annual savings. + ...] + +Employment has thus been given to vast numbers of our industrial +population, and the wealth and resources of the Scotch iron districts +have been increased to an extraordinary extent. During the last year +there were 125 furnaces in blast throughout Scotland, each employing +about 400 men in making an average of 200 tons a week; and the money +distributed amongst the workmen may readily be computed from the fact +that, under the most favourable circumstances, the cost of making +iron in wages alone amounts to 36s. a-ton.* + [footnote... +Papers read by Mr. Ralph Moore, Mining Engineer, Glasgow, before the +Royal Scottish Society of Arts, Edin. 1861, pp. 13, 14. + ...] + +An immense additional value was given to all land in which the Black +Band was found. Mr. Mushet mentions that in 1839 the proprietor of +the Airdrie estate derived a royalty of 16,500L. from the mineral, +which had not before its discovery yielded him one farthing. At the +same time, many fortunes have been made by pushing and energetic men +who have of late years entered upon this new branch of industry. +Amongst these may be mentioned the Bairds of Gartsherrie, who vie +with the Guests and Crawshays of South Wales, and have advanced +themselves in the course of a very few years from the station of +small farmers to that of great capitalists owning estates in many +counties, holding the highest character commercial men, and ranking +among the largest employers of labour in the kingdom. + + +CHAPTER X. + +MECHANICAL INVENTIONS AND INVENTORS. + +"L'invention nest-elle pas la poesie de la science? . . . Toutes les +grandes decouvertes portent avec elles la trace ineffacable d'une +pensee poetique. ll faut etre poete pour creer. Aussi, sommes-nous +convaincus que si les puissantes machines, veritable source de la +production et de l'industrie de nos jours, doivent recevoir des +modifications radicales, ce sera a des hommes d'imagination, et non +point a dea hommes purement speciaux, que l'on devra cette +transformation."--E. M. BATAILLE, Tr aite des Machines a Vapeur. + + +Tools have played a highly important part in the history of +civilization. Without tools and the ability to use them, man were +indeed but a "poor, bare, forked animal,"--worse clothed than the +birds, worse housed than the beaver, worse fed than the jackal. "Weak +in himself," says Carlyle, "and of small stature, he stands on a +basis, at most for the flattest-soled, of some half square foot, +insecurely enough; has to straddle out his legs, Jest the very wind +supplant him. Feeblest of bipeds! Three quintals are a crushing load +for him; the steer of the meadow tosses him aloft like a waste rag. +Nevertheless he can use tools, can devise tools: with these the +granite mountain melts into light dust before him; he kneads glowing +iron as if it were soft paste; seas are his smooth highway, winds and +fire his unvarying steeds. Nowhere do you find him without tools: +without tools he is nothing; with tools he is all." His very first +contrivances to support life were tools of the simplest and rudest +construction; and his latest achievements in the substitution of +machinery for the relief of the human hand and intellect are founded +on the use of tools of a still higher order. Hence it is not without +good reason that man has by some philosophers been defined as A +TOOL-MAKING ANIMAL. + +Tools, like everything else, had small beginnings. With the primitive +stone-hammer and chisel very little could be done. The felling of a +tree would occupy a workman a month, unless helped by the destructive +action of fire. Dwellings could not be built, the soil could not be +tilled, clothes could not be fashioned and made, and the hewing out +of a boat was so tedious a process that the wood must have been far +gone in decay before it could be launched. It was a great step in +advance to discover the art of working in metals, more especially in +steel, one of the few metals capable of taking a sharp edge and +keeping it. From the date of this discovery, working in wood and +stone would be found comparatively easy; and the results must +speedily have been felt not only in the improvement of man's daily +food, but in his domestic and social condition. Clothing could then +be made, the primitive forest could be cleared and tillage carried +on; abundant fuel could be obtained, dwellings erected, ships built, +temples reared; every improvement in tools marking a new step in the +development of the human intellect, and a further stage in the +progress of human civilization. + +The earliest tools were of the simplest possible character, +consisting principally of modifications of the wedge; such as the +knife, the shears (formed of two knives working on a joint), the +chisel, and the axe. These, with the primitive hammer, formed the +principal stock-in-trade of the early mechanics, who were +handicraftsmen in the literal sense of the word. But the work which +the early craftsmen in wood, stone, brass, and iron, contrived to +execute, sufficed to show how much expertness in the handling of +tools will serve to compensate for their mechanical imperfections. +Workmen then sought rather to aid muscular strength than to supersede +it, and mainly to facilitate the efforts of manual skill. Another +tool became added to those mentioned above, which proved an +additional source of power to the workman. We mean the Saw, which was +considered of so much importance that its inventor was honoured with +a place among the gods in the mythology of the Greeks. This invention +is said to have been suggested by the arrangement of the teeth in the +jaw of a serpent, used by Talus the nephew of Daedalus in dividing a +piece of wood. From the representations of ancient tools found in the +paintings at Herculaneum it appears that the frame-saw used by the +ancients very nearly resembled that still in use; and we are informed +that the tools employed in the carpenters' shops at Nazareth at this +day are in most respects the same as those represented in the buried +Roman city. Another very ancient tool referred to in the Bible and in +Homer was the File, which was used to sharpen weapons and implements. +Thus the Hebrews "had a file for the mattocks, and for the coulters, +and for the forks, and for the axes, and to sharpen the goads."* + [footnote... +1 Samuel, ch. xiii. v. 21. + ...] +When to these we add the adze, plane-irons, the anger, and the +chisel, we sum up the tools principally relied on by the early +mechanics for working in wood and iron. + +Such continued to be the chief tools in use down almost to our own +day. The smith was at first the principal tool-maker; but special +branches of trade were gradually established, devoted to tool-making. +So long, however, as the workman relied mainly on his dexterity of +hand, the amount of production was comparatively limited; for the +number of skilled workmen was but small. The articles turned out by +them, being the product of tedious manual labour, were too dear to +come into common use, and were made almost exclusively for the richer +classes of the community. It was not until machinery had been +invented and become generally adopted that many of the ordinary +articles of necessity and of comfort were produced in sufficient +abundance and at such prices as enabled them to enter into the +consumption of the great body of the people. + +But every improver of tools had a long and difficult battle to fight; +for any improvement in their effective power was sure to touch the +interests of some established craft. Especially was this the case +with machines, which are but tools of a more complete though +complicated kind than those above described. + +Take, for instance, the case of the Saw. The tedious drudgery of +dividing timber by the old fashioned hand-saw is well known. To avoid +it, some ingenious person suggested that a number of saws should be +fixed to a frame in a mill, so contrived as to work with a +reciprocating motion, upwards and downwards, or backwards and +forwards, and that this frame so mounted should be yoked to the mill +wheel, and the saws driven by the power of wind or water. The plan +was tried, and, as may readily be imagined, the amount of effective +work done by this machine-saw was immense, compared with the tedious +process of sawing by hand. + +It will be observed, however, that the new method must have seriously +interfered with the labour of the hand-sawyers; and it was but +natural that they should regard the establishment of the saw-mills +with suspicion and hostility. Hence a long period elapsed before the +hand-sawyers would permit the new machinery to be set up and worked. +The first saw-mill in England was erected by a Dutchman, near London, +in 1663, but was shortly abandoned in consequence of the determined +hostility of the workmen. More than a century passed before a second +saw-mill was set up; when, in 1767, Mr. John Houghton, a London +timber-merchant, by the desire and with the approbation of the +Society of Arts, erected one at Limehouse, to be driven by wind. The +work was directed by one James Stansfield, who had gone over to +Holland for the purpose of learning the art of constructing and +managing the sawing machinery. But the mill was no sooner erected +than a mob assembled and razed it to the ground. The principal +rioters having been punished, and the loss to the proprietor having +been made good by the nation, a new mill was shortly after built, and +it was suffered to work without further molestation. + +Improved methods of manufacture have usually had to encounter the +same kind of opposition. Thus, when the Flemish weavers came over to +England in the seventeenth century, bringing with them their skill +and their industry, they excited great jealousy and hostility amongst +the native workmen. Their competition as workmen was resented as an +injury, but their improved machinery was regarded as a far greater +source of mischief. In a memorial presented to the king in 1621 we +find the London weavers complaining of the foreigners' competition, +but especially that "they have made so bould of late as to devise +engines for working of tape, lace, ribbin, and such like, wherein one +man doth more among them than 7 Englishe men can doe; so as their +cheap sale of commodities beggereth all our Englishe artificers of +that trade, and enricheth them."* + [footnote... +State Papers, Dom. 1621, Vol. 88, No. 112. + ...] + +At a much more recent period new inventions have had to encounter +serious rioting and machine-breaking fury. Kay of the fly-shuttle, +Hargreaves of the spinning-jenny, and Arkwright of the +spinning-frame, all had to fly from Lancashire, glad to escape with +their lives. Indeed, says Mr. Bazley, "so jealous were the people, +and also the legislature, of everything calculated to supersede men's +labour, that when the Sankey Canal, six miles long, near Warrington, +was authorized about the middle of last century, it was on the +express condition that the boats plying on it should be drawn by men +only!"* + [footnote... +Lectures on the Results of the Great Exhibition of 1851, 2nd Series, +117. + ...] +Even improved agricultural tools and machines have had the same +opposition to encounter; and in our own time bands of rural labourers +have gone from farm to farm breaking drill-ploughs, winnowing, +threshing, and other machines, down even to the common drills,--not +perceiving that if their policy had proved successful, and tools +could have been effectually destroyed, the human race would at once +have been reduced to their teeth and nails, and civilization +summarily abolished.* + [footnote... +Dr. Kirwan, late President of the Royal Irish Academy, who had +travelled much on the continent of Europe, used to relate, when +speaking of the difficulty of introducing improvements in the arts +and manufactures, and of the prejudices entertained for old +practices, that, in Normandy, the farmers had been so long accustomed +to the use of plough's whose shares were made entirely of WOOD that +they could not be prevailed on to make trial of those with IRON; that +they considered them to be an idle and useless innovation on the +long-established practices of their ancestors; and that they carried +these prejudices so far as to force the government to issue an edict +on the subject. And even to the last they were so obstinate in their +attachment to ploughshares of wood that a tumultuous opposition was +made to the enforcement of the edict, which for a short time +threatened a rebellion in the province.-- PARKES, Chemical Essays, +4th Ed. 473. + ...] + +It is, no doubt, natural that the ordinary class of workmen should +regard with prejudice, if not with hostility, the introduction of +machines calculated to place them at a disadvantage and to interfere +with their usual employments; for to poor and not very far-seeing men +the loss of daily bread is an appalling prospect. But invention does +not stand still on that account. Human brains WILL work. Old tools +are improved and new ones invented, superseding existing methods of +production, though the weak and unskilled may occasionally be pushed +aside or even trodden under foot. The consolation which remains is, +that while the few suffer, society as a whole is vastly benefitted by +the improved methods of production which are suggested, invented, and +perfected by the experience of successive generations. + +The living race is the inheritor of the industry and skill of all +past times; and the civilization we enjoy is but the sum of the +useful effects of labour during the past centuries. Nihil per saltum. +By slow and often painful steps Nature's secrets have been mastered. +Not an effort has been made but has had its influence. For no human +labour is altogether lost; some remnant of useful effect surviving +for the benefit of the race, if not of the individual. Even attempts +apparently useless have not really been so, but have served in some +way to advance man to higher knowledge, skill, or discipline. "The +loss of a position gained," says Professor Thomson, "is an event +unknown in the history of man's struggle with the forces of inanimate +nature." A single step won gives a firmer foothold for further +effort. The man may die, but the race survives and continues the +work,--to use the poet's simile, mounting on stepping-stones of dead +selves to higher selves. + +Philarete Chasles, indeed, holds that it is the Human Race that is +your true inventor: "As if to unite all generations," he says, "and +to show that man can only act efficiently by association with others, +it has been ordained that each inventor shall only interpret the +first word of the problem he sets himself to solve, and that every +great idea shall be the RESUME of the past at the same time that it +is the germ of the future." And rarely does it happen that any +discovery or invention of importance is made by one man alone. The +threads of inquiry are taken up and traced, one labourer succeeding +another, each tracing it a little further, often without apparent +result. This goes on sometimes for centuries, until at length some +man, greater perhaps than his fellows, seeking to fulfil the needs of +his time, gathers the various threads together, treasures up the gain +of past successes and failures, and uses them as the means for some +solid achievement, Thus Newton discovered the law of gravitation, and +thus James Watt invented the steam-engine. So also of the Locomotive, +of which Robert Stephenson said, "It has not been the invention of +any one man, but of a race of mechanical engineers." Or, as Joseph +Bramah observed, in the preamble to his second Lock patent, "Among +the number of patents granted there are comparatively few which can +be called original so that it is difficult to say where the boundary +of one ends and where that of another begins." + +The arts are indeed reared but slowly; and it was a wise observation +of Lord Bacon that we are too apt to pass those ladders by which they +have been reared, and reflect the whole merit on the last new +performer. Thus, what is hailed as an original invention is often +found to be but the result of a long succession of trials and +experiments gradually following each other, which ought rather to be +considered as a continuous series of achievements of the human mind +than as the conquest of any single individual. It has sometimes taken +centuries of experience to ascertain the value of a single fact in +its various bearings. Like man himself, experience is feeble and +apparently purposeless in its infancy, but acquires maturity and +strength with age. Experience, however, is not limited to a lifetime, +but is the stored-up wealth and power of our race. Even amidst the +death of successive generations it is constantly advancing and +accumulating, exhibiting at the same time the weakness and the power, +the littleness and the greatness of our common humanity. And not only +do we who live succeed to the actual results of our predecessors' +labours,--to their works of learning and of art, their inventions and +discoveries, their tools and machines, their roads, bridges , canals, +and railways,--but to the inborn aptitudes of blood and brain which +they bequeath to us, to that "educability," so to speak, which has +been won for us by the labours of many generations, and forms our +richest natural heritage. + +The beginning of most inventions is very remote. The first idea, born +within some unknown brain, passes thence into others, and at last +comes forth complete, after a parturition, it may be, of centuries. +One starts the idea, another developes it, and so on progressively +until at last it is elaborated and worked out in practice; but the +first not less than the last is entitled to his share in the merit of +the invention, were it only possible to measure and apportion it +duly. Sometimes a great original mind strikes upon some new vein of +hidden power, and gives a powerful impulse to the inventive faculties +of man, which lasts through generations. More frequently, however, +inventions are not entirely new, but modifications of contrivances +previously known, though to a few, and not yet brought into practical +use. Glancing back over the history of mechanism, we occasionally see +an invention seemingly full born, when suddenly it drops out of +sight, and we hear no more of it for centuries. It is taken up de +novo by some inventor, stimulated by the needs of his time, and +falling again upon the track, he recovers the old footmarks, follows +them up, and completes the work. + +There is also such a thing as inventions being born before their time +--the advanced mind of one generation projecting that which cannot be +executed for want of the requisite means; but in due process of time, +when mechanism has got abreast of the original idea, it is at length +carried out; and thus it is that modern inventors are enabled to +effect many objects which their predecessors had tried in vain to +accomplish. As Louis Napoleon has said, "Inventions born before their +time must remain useless until the level of common intellects rises +to comprehend them." For this reason, misfortune is often the lot of +the inventor before his time, though glory and profit may belong to +his successors. Hence the gift of inventing not unfrequently involves +a yoke of sorrow. Many of the greatest inventors have lived neglected +and died unrequited, before their merits could be recognised and +estimated. Even if they succeed, they often raise up hosts of enemies +in the persons whose methods they propose to supersede. Envy, malice, +and detraction meet them in all their forms; they are assailed by +combinations of rich and unscrupulous persons to wrest from them the +profits of their ingenuity; and last and worst of all, the successful +inventor often finds his claims to originality decried, and himself +branded as a copyist and a pirate. + +Among the inventions born out of time, and before the world could +make adequate use of them, we can only find space to allude to a few, +though they are so many that one is almost disposed to accept the +words of Chaucer as true, that "There is nothing new but what has +once been old;" or, as another writer puts it, "There is nothing new +but what has before been known and forgotten;" or, in the words of +Solomon, "The thing that hath been is that which shall be, and there +is no new thing under the sun." One of the most important of these is +the use of Steam, which was well known to the ancients; but though it +was used to grind drugs, to turn a spit, and to excite the wonder and +fear of the credulous, a long time elapsed before it became employed +as a useful motive-power. The inquiries and experiments on the +subject extended through many ages. Friar Bacon, who flourished in +the thirteenth century, seems fully to have anticipated, in the +following remarkable passage, nearly all that steam could accomplish, +as well as the hydraulic engine and the diving-bell, though the +flying machine yet remains to be invented: -- + +"I will now," says the Friar, "mention some of the wonderful works of +art and nature in which there is nothing of magic, and which magic +could not perform. Instruments may be made by which the largest +ships, with only one man guiding them, will be carried with greater +velocity than if they were full of sailors. Chariots may be +constructed that will move with incredible rapidity, without the help +of animals. Instruments of flying may be formed, in which a man, +sitting at his ease and meditating on any subject, may beat the air +with his artificial wings, after the manner of birds. A small +instrument may be made to raise or depress the greatest weights. An +instrument may be fabricated by which one man may draw a thousand men +to him by force and against their will; as also machines which will +enable men to walk at the bottom of seas or rivers without danger." +It is possible that Friar Bacon derived his knowledge of the powers +which he thus described from the traditions handed down of former +inventions which had been neglected and allowed to fall into +oblivion; for before the invention of printing, which enabled the +results of investigation and experience to be treasured up in books, +there was great risk of the inventions of one age being lost to the +succeeding generations. Yet Disraeli the elder is of opinion that the +Romans had invented printing without being aware of it; or perhaps +the senate dreaded the inconveniences attending its use, and did not +care to deprive a large body of scribes of their employment. They +even used stereotypes, or immovable printing-types, to stamp +impressions on their pottery, specimens of which still exist. In +China the art of printing is of great antiquity. Lithography was well +known in Germany, by the very name which it still bears, nearly three +hundred years before Senefelder reinvented it; and specimens of the +ancient art are yet to be seen in the Royal Museum at Munich.* + [footnote... +EDOUARD FOURNIER, Vieux-Neuf, i. 339. + ...] + +Steam-locomotion by sea and land, had long been dreamt of and +attempted. Blasco de Garay made his experiment in the harbour of +Barcelona as early as 1543; Denis Papin made a similar attempt at +Cassel in 1707; but it was not until Watt had solved the problem of +the steam-engine that the idea of the steam-boat could be developed +in practice, which was done by Miller of Dalswinton in 1788. Sages +and poets have frequently foreshadowed inventions of great social +moment. Thus Dr. Darwin's anticipation of the locomotive, in his +Botanic Garden, published in 1791, before any locomotive had been +invented, might almost be regarded as prophetic: + + Soon shall thy arm, unconquered Steam! afar + Drag the slow barge, and drive the rapid car. + +Denis Papin first threw out the idea of atmospheric locomotion; and +Gauthey, another Frenchman, in 1782 projected a method of conveying +parcels and merchandise by subterraneous tubes,* + [footnote... +Memoires de l' Academie des Sciences, 6 Feb. 1826. + ...] +after the method recently patented and brought into operation by the +London Pneumatic Despatch Company. The balloon was an ancient Italian +invention, revived by Mongolfier long after the original had been +forgotten. Even the reaping machine is an old invention revived. Thus +Barnabe Googe, the translator of a book from the German entitled 'The +whole Arte and Trade of Husbandrie,' published in 1577, in the reign +of Elizabeth, speaks of the reaping-machine as a worn-out +invention--a thing "which was woont to be used in France. The device +was a lowe kinde of carre with a couple of wheeles, and the frunt +armed with sharpe syckles, whiche, forced by the beaste through the +corne, did cut down al before it. This tricke," says Googe, "might be +used in levell and champion countreys; but with us it wolde make but +ill-favoured woorke."* + [footnote... +Farmer's Magazine, 1817, No. ixxi. 291. + ...] +The Thames Tunnel was thought an entirely new manifestation of +engineering genius; but the tunnel under the Euphrates at ancient +Babylon, and that under the wide mouth of the harbour at Marseilles +(a much more difficult work), show that the ancients were beforehand +with us in the art of tunnelling. Macadamized roads are as old as the +Roman empire; and suspension bridges, though comparatively new in +Europe, have been known in China for centuries. + +There is every reason to believe--indeed it seems clear that the +Romans knew of gunpowder, though they only used it for purposes of +fireworks; while the secret of the destructive Greek fire has been +lost altogether. When gunpowder came to be used for purposes of war, +invention busied itself upon instruments of destruction. When +recently examining the Museum of the Arsenal at Venice, we were +surprised to find numerous weapons of the fifteenth and sixteenth +centuries embodying the most recent English improvements in arms, +such as revolving pistols, rifled muskets, and breech-loading cannon. +The latter, embodying Sir William Armstrong's modem idea, though in a +rude form, had been fished up from the bottom of the Adriatic, where +the ship armed with them had been sunk hundreds of years ago. Even +Perkins's steam-gun was an old invention revived by Leonardo da Vinci +and by him attributed to Archimedes.* + [footnote... +Vieux-Neuf, i. 228; Inventa Nova-Antiqua, 742. + ...] +The Congreve rocket is said to have an Eastern origin, Sir William +Congreve having observed its destructive effects when employed by the +forces under Tippoo Saib in the Mahratta war, on which he adopted and +improved the missile, and brought out the invention as his own. + +Coal-gas was regularly used by the Chinese for lighting purposes long +before it was known amongst us. Hydropathy was generally practised by +the Romans, who established baths wherever they went. Even chloroform +is no new thing. The use of ether as an anaesthetic was known to +Albertus Magnus, who flourished in the thirteenth century; and in his +works he gives a recipe for its preparation. In 1681 Denis Papin +published his Traite des Operations sans Douleur, showing that he had +discovered methods of deadening pain. But the use of anaesthetics is +much older than Albertus Magnus or Papin; for the ancients had their +nepenthe and mandragora; the Chinese their mayo, and the Egyptians +their hachisch (both preparations of Cannabis Indica), the effects of +which in a great measure resemble those of chloroform. What is +perhaps still more surprising is the circumstance that one of the +most elegant of recent inventions, that of sun-painting by the +daguerreotype, was in the fifteenth century known to Leonardo da +Vinci,* + [footnote... +Vieux-Neuf, i. 19. See also Inventa Nova-Antiqua, 803. + ...] +whose skill as an architect and engraver, and whose accomplishments +as a chemist and natural philosopher, have been almost entirely +overshadowed by his genius as a painter.* + [footnote... +Mr. Hallam, in his Introduction to the History of Europe, pronounces +the following remarkable eulogium on this extraordinary genius: -- +"If any doubt could be harboured, not only as to the right of +Leonardo da Vinci to stand as 'the first name of the fifteenth +century, which is beyond all doubt, but as to his originality in so +many discoveries, which probably no one man, especially in such +circumstances, has ever made, it must be on an hypothesis not very +untenable, that some parts of physical science had already attained a +height which mere books do not record." "Unpublished MSS. by Leonado +contain discoveries and anticipations of discoveries," says Mr. +Hallam, "within the compass of a few pages, so as to strike us with +something like the awe of preternatural knowledge." + ...] +The idea, thus early born, lay in oblivion until 1760, when the +daguerreotype was again clearly indicated in a book published in +Paris, written by a certain Tiphanie de la Roche, under the +anagrammatic title of Giphantie. Still later, at the beginning of the +present century, we find Thomas Wedgwood, Sir Humphry Davy, and James +Watt, making experiments on the action of light upon nitrate of +silver; and only within the last few months a silvered copper-plate +has been found amongst the old household lumber of Matthew Boulton +(Watt's partner), having on it a representation of the old premises +at Soho, apparently taken by some such process.* + [footnote... +The plate is now to be seen at the Museum of Patents at South +Kensington. In the account which has been published of the above +discovery it is stated that "an old man of ninety (recently dead or +still alive) recollected, or recollects, that Watt and others used to +take portraits of people in a dark (?) room; and there is a letter +extant of Sir William Beechey, begging the Lunar Society to desist +from these experiments, as, were the process to succeed, it would +ruin portrait-painting." + ...] + +In like manner the invention of the electric telegraph, supposed to +be exclusively modern, was clearly indicated by Schwenter in his +Delasements Physico-Mathematiques, published in 1636; and he there +pointed out how two individuals could communicate with each other by +means of the magnetic needle. A century later, in 1746, Le Monnier +exhibited a series of experiments in the Royal Gardens at Paris, +showing how electricity could be transmitted through iron wire 950 +fathoms in length; and in 1753 we find one Charles Marshall +publishing a remarkable description of the electric telegraph in the +Scots Magazine, under the title of 'An expeditions Method of +conveying Intelligence.' Again, in 1760, we find George Louis Lesage, +professor of mathematics at Geneva, promulgating his invention of an +electric telegraph, which he eventually completed and set to work in +1774. This instrument was composed of twenty-four metallic wires, +separate from each other and enclosed in a non-conducting substance. +Each wire ended in a stalk mounted with a little ball of elder-wood +suspended by a silk thread. When a stream of electricity, no matter +how slight., was sent through the wire, the elder-ball at the +opposite end was repelled, such movement designating some letter of +the alphabet. A few years later we find Arthur Young, in his Travels +in France, describing a similar machine invented by a M. Lomond of +Paris, the action of which he also describes.* + [footnote... +"l6th Oct.l787. In the evening to M. Lomond, a very ingenious and +inventive mechanic, who has made an improvement of the jenny for +spinning cotton. Common machines are said to make too hard a thread +for certain fabrics, but this forms it loose and spongy. In +electricity he has made a remarkable discovery: you write two or +three words on a paper; he takes it with him into a room, and turns a +machine inclosed in a cylindrical case, at the top of which is an +electrometer, a small fine pith ball; a wire connects with a similar +cylinder and electrometer in a distant apartment; and his wife, by +remarking the corresponding motions of the ball, writes down the +words they indicate; from which it appears that he has formed an +alphabet of motions. As the length of the wire makes no difference in +the effect, a correspondence might be carried on at any distance: +within and without a besieged town, for instance; or for a purpose +much more worthy, and a thousand times more harmless, between two +lovers prohibited or prevented from any better connexion. Whatever +the use may be, the invention is beautiful."--Arthur Young's Travels +in France in 1787-8-9. London, 1792, 4to. ed. p. 65. + ...] +In these and similar cases, though the idea was born and the model of +the invention was actually made, it still waited the advent of the +scientific mechanical inventor who should bring it to perfection, and +embody it in a practical working form. + +Some of the most valuable inventions have descended to us without the +names of their authors having been preserved. We are the inheritors +of an immense legacy of the results of labour and ingenuity, but we +know not the names of our benefactors. Who invented the watch as a +measurer of time? Who invented the fast and loose pulley? Who +invented the eccentric? Who, asks a mechanical inquirer,* + [footnote... +Mechanic's Magazine, 4th Feb. 1859. + ...] +"invented the method of cutting screws with stocks and dies? Whoever +he might be, he was certainly a great benefactor of his species. Yet +(adds the writer) his name is not known, though the invention has +been so recent." This is not, however, the case with most modern +inventions, the greater number of which are more or less disputed. +Who was entitled to the merit of inventing printing has never yet been +determined. Weber and Senefelder both laid claim to the invention of +lithography, though it was merely an old German art revived. Even the +invention of the penny-postage system by Sir Rowland Hill is +disputed; Dr. Gray of the British Museum claiming to be its inventor, +and a French writer alleging it to be an old French invention.* + [footnote... +A writer in the Monde says: --"The invention of postage-stamps. is far +from being so modern as is generally supposed. A postal regulation in +France of the year 1653, which has recently come to light, gives +notice of the creation of pre-paid tickets to be used for Paris +instead of money payments. These tickets were to be dated and +attached to the letter or wrapped round it, in such a manner that the +postman could remove and retain them on delivering the missive. These +franks were to be sold by the porters of the convents, prisons, +colleges, and other public institutions, at the price of one sou." + ...] + The invention of the steamboat has been claimed on behalf of Blasco +de Garay, a Spaniard, Papin, a Frenchman, Jonathan Hulls, an +Englishman, and Patrick Miller of Dalswinton, a Scotchman. The +invention of the spinning machine has been variously attributed to +Paul, Wyatt, Hargreaves, Higley, and Arkwright. The invention of the +balance-spring was claimed by Huyghens, a Dutchman, Hautefeuille, a +Frenchman, and Hooke, an Englishman. There is scarcely a point of +detail in the locomotive but is the subject of dispute. Thus the +invention of the blast-pipe is claimed for Trevithick, George +Stephenson, Goldsworthy Gurney, and Timothy Hackworth; that of the +tubular boiler by Seguin, Stevens, Booth, and W. H. James; that of +the link-motion by John Gray, Hugh Williams, and Robert Stephenson. + +Indeed many inventions appear to be coincident. A number of minds are +working at the same time in the same track, with the object of +supplying some want generally felt; and, guided by the same +experience, they not unfrequently arrive at like results. It has +sometimes happened that the inventors have been separated by great +distances, so that piracy on the part of either was impossible. Thus +Hadley and Godfrey almost simultaneously invented the quadrant, the +one in London, the other in Philadelphia; and the process of +electrotyping was invented at the same time by Mr. Spencer, a working +chemist at Liverpool, and by Professor Jacobi at St. Petersburg. The +safety-lamp was a coincident invention, made about the same time by +Sir Humphry Davy and George Stephenson; and perhaps a still more +remarkable instance of a coincident discovery was that of the planet +Neptune by Leverrier at Paris, and by Adams at Cambridge. + +It is always difficult to apportion the due share of merit which +belongs to mechanical inventors, who are accustomed to work upon each +other's hints and suggestions, as well as by their own experience. +Some idea of this difficulty may be formed from the fact that, in the +course of our investigations as to the origin of the planing +machine--one of the most useful of modern tools--we have found that +it has been claimed on behalf of six inventors--Fox of Derby, Roberts +of Manchester, Matthew Murray of Leeds, Spring of Aberdeen, Clement +and George Rennie of London; and there may be other claimants of whom +we have not yet heard. But most mechanical inventions are of a very +composite character, and are led up to by the labour and the study of +a long succession of workers. Thus Savary and Newcomen led up to +Watt; Cugnot, Murdock, and Trevithick to the Stephensons; and +Maudslay to Clement, Roberts, Nasmyth, Whitworth, and many more +mechanical inventors. There is scarcely a process in the arts but has +in like manner engaged mind after mind in bringing it to perfection. +"There is nothing," says Mr. Hawkshaw, "really worth having that man +has obtained, that has not been the result of a combined and gradual +process of investigation. A gifted individual comes across some old +footmark, stumbles on a chain of previous research and inquiry. He +meets, for instance, with a machine, the result of much previous +labour; he modifies it, pulls it to pieces, constructs and +reconstructs it, and by further trial and experiment he arrives at +the long sought-for result."* + [footnote... +Inaugural Address delivered before the Institution of Civil +Engineers, l4th Jan. 1862. + ...] + +But the making of the invention is not the sole difficulty. It is one +thing to invent, said Sir Marc Brunel, and another thing to make the +invention work. Thus when Watt, after long labour and study, had +brought his invention to completion, he encountered an obstacle which +has stood in the way of other inventors, and for a time prevented the +introduction of their improvements, if not led to their being laid +aside and abandoned. This was the circumstance that the machine +projected was so much in advance of the mechanical capability of the +age that it was with the greatest difficulty it could be executed. +When labouring upon his invention at Glasgow, Watt was baffled and +thrown into despair by the clumsiness and incompetency of his +workmen. Writing to Dr. Roebuck on one occasion, he said, "You ask +what is the principal hindrance in erecting engines? It is always the +smith-work." His first cylinder was made by a whitesmith, of hammered +iron soldered together, but having used quicksilver to keep the +cylinder air-tight, it dropped through the inequalities into the +interior, and "played the devil with the solder." Yet, inefficient +though the whitesmith was, Watt could ill spare him, and we find him +writing to Dr. Roebuck almost in despair, saying, "My old white-iron +man is dead!" feeling his loss to be almost irreparable. His next +cylinder was cast and bored at Carron, but it was so untrue that it +proved next to useless. The piston could not be kept steam tight, +notwithstanding the various expedients which were adopted of stuffing +it with paper, cork, putty, pasteboard, and old hat. Even after Watt +had removed to Birmingham, and he had the assistance of Boulton's +best workmen, Smeaton expressed the opinion, when he saw the engine +at work, that notwithstanding the excellence of the invention, it +could never be brought into general use because of the difficulty of +getting its various parts manufactured with sufficient precision. For +a long time we find Watt, in his letters, complaining to his partner +of the failure of his engines through "villainous bad workmanship." +Sometimes the cylinders, when cast, were found to be more than an +eighth of an inch wider at one end than the other; and under such +circumstances it was impossible the engine could act with precision. +Yet better work could not be had. First-rate workmen in machinery did +not as yet exist; they were only in process of education. Nearly +everything had to be done by hand. The tools used were of a very +imperfect kind. A few ill-constructed lathes, with some drills and +boring-machines of a rude sort, constituted the principal furniture +of the workshop. Years after, when Brunel invented his +block-machines, considerable time elapsed before he could find +competent mechanics to construct them, and even after they had been +constructed he had equal difficulty in finding competent hands to +work them.* + [footnote... +BEAMISH'S Memoir of Sir I. M. Brunel, 79, 80. + ...] + +Watt endeavoured to remedy the defect by keeping certain sets of +workmen to special classes of work, allowing them to do nothing else. +Fathers were induced to bring up their sons at the same bench with +themselves, and initiate them in the dexterity which they had +acquired by experience; and at Soho it was not unusual for the same +precise line of work to be followed by members of the same family for +three generations. In this way as great a degree of accuracy of a +mechanical kind was arrived at was practicable under the +circumstances. But notwithstanding all this care, accuracy of fitting +could not be secured so long as the manufacture of steam-engines was +conducted mainly by hand. There was usually a considerable waste of +steam, which the expedients of chewed paper and greased hat packed +outside the piston were insufficient to remedy; and it was not until +the invention of automatic machine-tools by the mechanical engineers +about to be mentioned, that the manufacture of the steam-engine +became a matter of comparative ease and certainty. Watt was compelled +to rest satisfied with imperfect results, arising from imperfect +workmanship. Thus, writing to Dr. Small respecting a cylinder 18 +inches in diameter, he said, "at the worst place the long diameter +exceeded the short by only three-eighths of an inch." How different +from the state of things at this day, when a cylinder five feet wide +will be rejected as a piece of imperfect workmanship if it be found +to vary in any part more than the 80th part of an inch in diameter! + +Not fifty years since it was a matter of the utmost difficulty to set +an engine to work, and sometimes of equal difficulty to keep it +going. Though fitted by competent workmen, it often would not go at +all. Then the foreman of the factory at which it was made was sent +for, and he would almost live beside the engine for a month or more; +and after easing her here and screwing her up there, putting in a new +part and altering an old one, packing the piston and tightening the +valves, the machine would at length begot to work.* + [footnote... +There was the same clumsiness in all kinds of mill-work before the +introduction of machine-tools. We have heard of a piece of machinery +of the old school, the wheels of which, when set to work, made such a +clatter that the owner feared the engine would fall to pieces. The +foreman who set it agoing, after working at it until he was almost in +despair, at last gave it up, saving, "I think we had better leave the +cogs to settle their differences with one another: they will grind +themselves right in time!" + ...] +Now the case is altogether different. The perfection of modern +machine-tools is such that the utmost possible precision is secured, +and the mechanical engineer can calculate on a degree of exactitude +that does not admit of a deviation beyond the thousandth part of an +inch. When the powerful oscillating engines of the 'Warrior' were put +on board that ship, the parts, consisting of some five thousand +separate pieces, were brought from the different workshops of the +Messrs. Penn and Sons, where they had been made by workmen who knew +not the places they were to occupy, and fitted together with such +precision that so soon as the steam was raised and let into the +cylinders, the immense machine began as if to breathe and move like a +living creature, stretching its huge arms like a new-born giant, and +then, after practising its strength a little and proving its +soundness in body and limb, it started off with the power of above a +thousand horses to try its strength in breasting the billows of the +North Sea. + +Such are among the triumphs of modern mechanical engineering, due in +a great measure to the perfection of the tools by means of which all +works in metal are now fashioned. These tools are themselves among +the most striking results of the mechanical invention of the day. +They are automata of the most perfect kind, rendering the engine and +machine-maker in a great measure independent of inferior workmen. For +the machine tools have no unsteady hand, are not careless nor clumsy, +do not work by rule of thumb, and cannot make mistakes. They will +repeat their operations a thousand times without tiring, or varying +one hair's breadth in their action; and will turn out, without +complaining, any quantity of work, all of like accuracy and finish. +Exercising as they do so remarkable an influence on the development +of modem industry, we now propose, so far as the materials at our +disposal will admit, to give an account of their principal inventors, +beginning with the school of Bramah. + + +CHAPTER XI. + +JOSEPH BRAMAH. + +"The great Inventor is one who has walked forth upon the industrial +world, not from universities, but from hovels; not as clad in silks +and decked with honours, but as clad in fustian and grimed with soot +and oil."--ISAAC TAYLOR, Ultimate Civilization. + + +The inventive faculty is so strong in some men that it may be said to +amount to a passion, and cannot be restrained. The saying that the +poet is born, not made, applies with equal force to the inventor, +who, though indebted like the other to culture and improved +opportunities, nevertheless invents and goes on inventing mainly to +gratify his own instinct. The inventor, however, is not a creator +like the poet, but chiefly a finder-out. His power consists in a +great measure in quick perception and accurate observation, and in +seeing and foreseeing the effects of certain mechanical combinations. +He must possess the gift of insight, as well as of manual dexterity, +combined with the indispensable qualities of patience and +perseverance,--for though baffled, as he often is, he must be ready +to rise up again unconquered even in the moment of defeat. This is +the stuff of which the greatest inventors have been made. The subject +of the following memoir may not be entitled to take rank as a +first-class inventor, though he was a most prolific one; but, as the +founder of a school from which proceeded some of the most +distinguished mechanics of our time, he is entitled to a prominent +place in this series of memoirs. + +Joseph Bramah was born in 1748 at the village of Stainborough, near +Barnsley in Yorkshire, where his father rented a small farm under +Lord Strafford. Joseph was the eldest of five children, and was early +destined to follow the plough. After receiving a small amount of +education at the village school, he was set to work upon the farm. +From an early period he showed signs of constructive skill. When a +mere boy, he occupied his leisure hours in making musical +instruments, and he succeeded in executing some creditable pieces of +work with very imperfect tools. A violin, which he made out of a +solid block of wood, was long preserved as a curiosity. He was so +fortunate as to make a friend of the village blacksmith, whose smithy +he was in the practice of frequenting. The smith was an ingenious +workman, and, having taken a liking for the boy, he made sundry tools +for him out of old files and razor blades; and with these his fiddle +and other pieces of work were mainly executed. + +Joseph might have remained a ploughman for life, but for an accident +which happened to his right ankle at the age of 16, which unfitted +him for farm-work. While confined at home disabled he spent his time +in carving and making things in wood; and then it occurred to him +that, though he could not now be a ploughman, he might be a mechanic. +When sufficiently recovered, he was accordingly put apprentice to one +Allott, the village carpenter, under whom he soon became an expert +workman. He could make ploughs, window-frames, or fiddles, with equal +dexterity. He also made violoncellos, and was so fortunate as to sell +one of his making for three guineas, which is still reckoned a good +instrument. He doubtless felt within him the promptings of ambition, +such as every good workman feels, and at all events entertained the +desire of rising in his trade. When his time was out, he accordingly +resolved to seek work in London, whither he made the journey on foot. +He soon found work at a cabinet-maker's, and remained with him for +some time, after which he set up business in a very small way on his +own account. An accident which happened to him in the course of his +daily work, again proved his helper, by affording him a degree of +leisure which he at once proceeded to turn to some useful account. +Part of his business consisted in putting up water-closets, after a +method invented or improved by a Mr. Allen; but the article was still +very imperfect; and Bramah had long resolved that if he could only +secure some leisure for the purpose, he would contrive something that +should supersede it altogether. A severe fall which occurred to him +in the course of his business, and laid him up, though very much +against his will, now afforded him the leisure which he desired, and +he proceeded to make his proposed invention. He took out a patent for +it in 1778, describing himself in the specification as "of Cross +Court, Carnaby Market [Golden Square], Middlesex, Cabinet Maker." He +afterwards removed to a shop in Denmark Street, St. Giles's, and +while there he made a further improvement in his invention by the +addition of a water cock, which he patented in 1783. The merits of +the machine were generally recognised, and before long it came into +extensive use, continuing to be employed, with but few alterations, +until the present day. His circumstances improving with the increased +use of his invention, Bramah proceeded to undertake the manufacture +of the pumps, pipes, &c., required for its construction; and, +remembering his friend the Yorkshire blacksmith, who had made his +first tools for him out of the old files and razor-blades, he sent +for him to London to take charge of his blacksmith's department, in +which he proved a most useful assistant. As usual, the patent was +attacked by pirates so soon as it became productive, and Bramah was +under the necessity, on more than one occasion, of defending his +property in the invention, in which he was completely successful. + +We next find Bramah turning his attention to the invention of a lock +that should surpass all others then known. The locks then in use were +of a very imperfect character, easily picked by dexterous thieves, +against whom they afforded little protection. Yet locks are a very +ancient invention, though, as in many other cases, the art of making +them seems in a great measure to have become lost, and accordingly +had to be found out anew. Thus the tumbler lock--which consists in +the use of moveable impediments acted on by the proper key only, as +contradistinguished from the ordinary ward locks, where the +impediments are fixed-- appears to have been well known to the +ancient Egyptians, the representation of such a lock being found +sculptured among the bas-reliefs which decorate the great temple at +Karnak. This kind of lock was revived, or at least greatly improved, +by a Mr. Barron in 1774, and it was shortly after this time that +Bramah directed his attention to the subject. After much study and +many experiments, he contrived a lock more simple, more serviceable, +as well as more secure, than Barron's, as is proved by the fact that +it has stood the test of nearly eighty years' experience,* + [footnote... +The lock invented by Bramah was patented in 1784. Mr. Bramah himself +fully set forth the specific merits of the invention in his +Dissertation on the Construction of Locks. In a second patent, taken +out by him in 1798, he amended his first with the object of +preventing the counterfeiting of keys, and suspending the office of +the lock until the key was again in the possession of the owner. This +he effected by enabling the owner so to alter the sliders as to +render the lock inaccessible to such key if applied by any other +person but himself, or until the sliders had been rearranged so as to +admit of its proper action. We may mention in passing that the +security of Bramah's locks depends on the doctrine of combinations, +or multiplication of numbers into each other, which is known to +increase in the most rapid proportion. Thus, a lock of five slides +admits of 3,000 variations, while one of eight will have no less than +1,935,360 changes; in other words, that number of attempts at making +a key, or at picking it, may be made before it can be opened. + ...] +and still holds its ground. For a long time, indeed, Bramah's lock +was regarded as absolutely inviolable, and it remained unpicked for +sixty-seven years until Hobbs the American mastered it in 1851. A +notice had long been exhibited in Bramah's shop-window in Piccadilly, +offering 200L. to any one who should succeed in picking the patent +lock. Many tried, and all failed, until Hobbs succeeded, after +sixteen days' manipulation of it with various elaborate instruments. +But the difficulty with which the lock was picked showed that, for +all ordinary purposes, it might be pronounced impregnable. + +The new locks were machines of the most delicate kind, the action of +which depended in a great measure upon the precision with which the +springs, sliders, levers, barrels, and other parts were finished. The +merits of the invention being generally admitted, there was a +considerable demand for the locks, and the necessity thus arose for +inventing a series of original machine-tools to enable them to be +manufactured in sufficient quantities to meet the demand. It is +probable, indeed, that, but for the contrivance of such tools, the +lock could never have come in to general use, as the skill of +hand-workmen, no matter how experienced, could not have been relied +upon for turning out the article with that degree of accuracy and +finish in all the parts which was indispensable for its proper +action. In conducting the manufacture throughout, Bramah was greatly +assisted by Henry Maudslay, his foreman, to whom he was in no small +degree indebted for the contrivance of those tool-machines which +enabled him to carry on the business of lock-making with advantage +and profit. + +Bramah's indefatigable spirit of invention was only stimulated to +fresh efforts by the success of his lock; and in the course of a few +years we find him entering upon a more important and original line of +action than he had yet ventured on. His patent of 1785 shows the +direction of his studies. Watt had invented his steam-engine, which +was coming into general use; and the creation of motive-power in +various other forms became a favourite subject of inquiry with +inventors. Bramah's first invention with this object was his +Hydrostatic Machine, founded on the doctrine of the equilibrium of +pressure in fluids, as exhibited in the well known 'hydrostatic +paradox.' In his patent of 1785, in which he no longer describes +himself as Cabinet maker, but 'Engine maker' of Piccadilly, he +indicated many inventions, though none of them came into practical +use,--such as a Hydrostatical Machine and Boiler, and the application +of the power produced by them to the drawing of carriages, and the +propelling of ships by a paddle-wheel fixed in the stern of the +vessel, of which drawings are annexed to the specification; but it +was not until 1795 that he patented his Hydrostatic or Hydraulic +Press. + +Though the principle on which the Hydraulic Press is founded had long +been known, and formed the subject of much curious speculation, it +remained unproductive of results until a comparatively recent period, +when the idea occurred of applying it to mechanical purposes. A +machine of the kind was indeed proposed by Pascal, the eminent +philosopher, in 1664, but more than a century elapsed before the +difficulties in the way of its construction were satisfactorily +overcome. Bramah's machine consists of a large and massive cylinder, +in which there works an accurately-fitted solid piston or plunger. A +forcing-pump of very small bore communicates with the bottom of the +cylinder, and by the action of the pump-handle or lever, exceeding +small quantities of water are forced in succession beneath the piston +in the large cylinder, thus gradually raising it up, and compressing +bodies whose bulk or volume it is intended to reduce. Hence it is +most commonly used as a packing-press, being superior to every other +contrivance of the kind that has yet been invented; and though +exercising a prodigious force, it is so easily managed that a boy can +work it. The machine has been employed on many extraordinary +occasions in preference to other methods of applying power. Thus +Robert Stephenson used it to hoist the gigantic tubes of the +Britannia Bridge into their bed,* + [footnote... +The weight raised by a single press at the Britannia Bridge was 1144 +tons. + ...] +and Brunel to launch the Great Eastern steamship from her cradles. It +has also been used to cut bars of iron, to draw the piles driven in +forming coffer dams, and to wrench up trees by the roots, all of +which feats it accomplishes with comparative ease. + +The principal difficulty experienced in constructing the hydraulic +press before the time of Bramah arose from the tremendous pressure +exercised by the pump, which forced the water through between the +solid piston and the side of the cylinder in which it worked in such +quantities as to render the press useless for practical purposes. +Bramah himself was at first completely baffled by this difficulty. It +will be observed that the problem was to secure a joint sufficiently +free to let the piston slide up through it, and at the same time so +water-tight as to withstand the internal force of the pump. These two +conditions seemed so conflicting that Bramah was almost at his wit's +end, and for a time despaired of being able to bring the machine to a +state of practical efficiency. None but those who have occupied +themselves in the laborious and often profitless task of helping the +world to new and useful machines can have any idea of the tantalizing +anxiety which arises from the apparently petty stumbling-blocks which +for awhile impede the realization of a great idea in mechanical +invention. Such was the case with the water-tight arrangement in the +hydraulic press. In his early experiments, Bramah tried the expedient +of the ordinary stuffing-box for the purpose of securing the required +water tightness' That is, a coil of hemp on leather washers was +placed in a recess, so as to fit tightly round the moving ram or +piston, and it was further held in its place by means of a +compressing collar forced hard down by strong screws. The defect of +this arrangement was, that, even supposing the packing could be made +sufficiently tight to resist the passage of the water urged by the +tremendous pressure from beneath, such was the grip which the +compressed material took of the ram of the press, that it could not +be got to return down after the water pressure had been removed. + +In this dilemma, Bramah's ever-ready workman, Henry Maudslay, came to +his rescue. The happy idea occurred to him of employing the pressure +of the water itself to give the requisite water-tightness to the +collar. It was a flash of common-sense genius-- beautiful through its +very simplicity. The result was Maudslay's self-tightening collar, +the action of which a few words of description will render easily +intelligible. A collar of sound leather, the convex side upwards and +the concave downwards, was fitted into the recess turned out in the +neck of the press-cylinder, at the place formerly used as a +stuffing-box . Immediately on the high pressure water being turned +on, it forced its way into the leathern concavity and 'flapped out' +the bent edges of the collar; and, in so doing, caused the leather to +apply itself to the surface of the rising ram with a degree of +closeness and tightness so as to seal up the joint the closer exactly +in proportion to the pressure of the water in its tendency to escape. +On the other hand, the moment the pressure was let off and the ram +desired to return, the collar collapsed and the ram slid gently down, +perfectly free and yet perfectly water-tight. Thus, the former +tendency of the water to escape by the side of the piston was by this +most simple and elegant self-adjusting contrivance made instrumental +to the perfectly efficient action of the machine; and from the moment +of its invention the hydraulic press took its place as one of the +grandest agents for exercising power in a concentrated and tranquil +form. + +Bramah continued his useful labours as an inventor for many years. +His study of the principles of hydraulics, in the course of his +invention of the press, enabled him to introduce many valuable +improvements in pumping-machinery. By varying the form of the piston +and cylinder he was enabled to obtain a rotary motion,* + [footnote... +Dr. Thomas Young, in his article on Bramah in the Encyclopaedia +Britannica, describes the "rotative principle" as consisting in +making the part which acts immediately on the water in the form of a +slider, "sweeping round a cylindrical cavity, and kept in its place +by means of an eccentric groove; a contrivance which was probably +Bramah's own invention, but which had been before described, in a +form nearly similar, by Ramelli, Canalleri, Amontons, Prince Rupert, +and Dr. Hooke. + ...] +which he advantageously applied to many purposes. Thus he adopted it +in the well known fire-engine, the use of which has almost become +universal. Another popular machine of his is the beer-pump, patented +in 1797, by which the publican is enabled to raise from the casks in +the cellar beneath, the various liquors sold by him over the counter. +He also took out several patents for the improvement of the +steam-engine, in which, however, Watt left little room for other +inventors; and hence Bramah seems to have entertained a grudge +against Watt, which broke out fiercely in the evidence given by him +in the case of Boulton and Watt versus Hornblower and Maberly, tried +in December 1796. On that occasion his temper seems to have got the +better of his judgment, and he was cut short by the judge in the +attempt which he then made to submit the contents of the pamphlet +subsequently published by him in the form of a letter to the judge +before whom the case was tried.* + [footnote... +A Letter to the Right Hon. Sir James Eyre, Lord Chief Justice +of the Common Pleas, on the subject of the cause Boulton and +Watt v. Hornblower and Maberly, for Infringement on Mr. Watt's Patent +for an Improvement of the Steam Engine. By Joseph Bramah, Engineer. +London, 1797. + ...] +In that pamphlet he argued that Watt's specification had no definite +meaning; that it was inconsistent and absurd, and could not possibly +be understood; that the proposal to work steam-engines on the +principle of condensation was entirely fallacious; that Watt's method +of packing the piston was "monstrous stupidity;" that the engines of +Newcomen (since entirely superseded) were infinitely superior, in all +respects, to those of Watt;-- conclusions which, we need scarcely +say, have been refuted by the experience of nearly a century. + +On the expiry of Boulton and Watt's patent, Bramah introduced several +valuable improvements in the details of the condensing engine, which +had by that time become an established power,--the most important of +which was his "four-way cock," which he so arranged as to revolve +continuously instead of alternately, thus insuring greater precision +with considerably less wear of parts. In the same patent by which he +secured this invention in 1801, he also proposed sundry improvements +in the boilers, as well as modifications in various parts of the +engine, with the object of effecting greater simplicity and +directness of action. + +In his patent of 1802, we find Bramah making another great stride in +mechanical invention, in his tools "for producing straight, smooth, +and parallel surfaces on wood and other materials requiring truth, in +a manner much more expeditious and perfect than can be performed by +the use of axes, saws, planes, and other cutting instruments used by +hand in the ordinary way." The specification describes the object of +the invention to be the saving of manual labour, the reduction in the +cost of production, and the superior character of the work executed. +The tools were fixed on frames driven by machinery, some moving in a +rotary direction round an upright shaft, some with the shaft +horizontal like an ordinary wood-turning lathe, while in others the +tools were fixed on frames sliding in stationary grooves. A +wood-planing machine* + [footnote... +Sir Samuel Bentham and Marc Isambard Brunel subsequently +distinguished themselves by the invention of wood-working machinery, +full accounts of which will be found in the Memoirs of the former by +Lady Bentham, and in the Life of the latter by Mr. Beamish. + ...] +was constructed on the principle of this invention at Woolwich +Arsenal, where it still continues in efficient use. The axis of the +principal shaft was supported on a piston in a vessel of oil, which +considerably diminished the friction, and it was so contrived as to +be accurately regulated by means of a small forcing-pump. Although +the machinery described in the patent was first applied to working on +wood, it was equally applicable to working on metals; and in his own +shops at Pimlico Bramah employed a machine with revolving cutters to +plane metallic surfaces for his patent locks and other articles. He +also introduced a method of turning spherical surfaces, either convex +or concave, by a tool moveable on an axis perpendicular to that of +the lathe; and of cutting out concentric shells by fixing in a +similar manner a curved tool of nearly the same form as that employed +by common turners for making bowls. "In fact," says Mr. Mallet, +"Bramah not only anticipated, but carried out upon a tolerably large +scale in his own works--for the construction of the patent hydraulic +press, the water-closet, and his locks--a surprisingly large +proportion of our modern tools."* + [footnote... +"Record of the International Exhibition, 1862." Practical Mechanic's +Journal, 293. + ...] +His remarkable predilection in favour of the use of hydraulic +arrangements is displayed in his specification of the surface-planing +machinery, which includes a method of running pivots entirely on a +fluid, and raising and depressing them at pleasure by means of a +small forcing-pump and stop-cock,--though we are not aware that any +practical use has ever been made of this part of the invention. + +Bramah's inventive genius displayed itself alike in small things as +in great--in a tap wherewith to draw a glass of beer, and in a +hydraulic machine capable of tearing up a tree by the roots. His +powers of contrivance seemed inexhaustible, and were exercised on the +most various subjects. When any difficulty occurred which mechanical +ingenuity was calculated to remove, recourse was usually had to +Bramah, and he was rarely found at a loss for a contrivance to +overcome it. Thus, when applied to by the Bank of England in 1806, to +construct a machine for more accurately and expeditiously printing +the numbers and date lines on Bank notes, he at once proceeded to +invent the requisite model, which he completed in the course of a +month. He subsequently brought it to great perfection the figures in +numerical succession being changed by the action of the machine +itself,--and it still continues in regular use. Its employment in the +Bank of England alone saved the labour of a hundred clerks; but its +chief value consisted in its greater accuracy, the perfect legibility +of the figures printed by it, and the greatly improved check which it +afforded. + +We next find him occupying himself with inventions connected with the +manufacture of pens and paper. His little pen-making machine for +readily making quill pens long continued in use, until driven out by +the invention of the steel pen; but his patent for making paper by +machinery, though ingenious, like everything he did, does not seem to +have been adopted, the inventions of Fourdrinier and Donkin in this +direction having shortly superseded all others. Among his other minor +inventions may be mentioned his improved method of constructing and +sledging carriage-wheels, and his improved method of laying +water-pipes. In his specification of the last-mentioned invention, he +included the application of water-power to the driving of machinery +of every description, and for hoisting and lowering goods in docks +and warehouses,--since carried out in practice, though in a different +manner, by Sir William Armstrong.* + [footnote... +In this, as in other methods of employing power, the moderns had been +anticipated by the ancients; and though hydraulic machinery is a +comparatively recent invention in England, it had long been in use +abroad. Thus we find in Dr. Bright's Travels in Lower Hungary a full +description of the powerful hydraulic machinery invented by M. Holl, +Chief Engineer of the Imperial Mines, which had been in use since the +year 1749, in pumping water from a depth of 1800 feet, from the +silver and gold mines of Schemnitz and Kremnitz. A head of water was +collected by forming a reservoir along the mountain side, from which +it was conducted through water-tight cast-iron pipes erected +perpendicularly in the mine-shaft. About forty-five fathoms down, the +water descending through the pipe was forced by the weight of the +column above it into the bottom of a perpendicular cylinder, in which +it raised a water-tight piston. When forced up to a given point a +self-acting stop-cock shut off the pressure of the descending column, +while a self-acting valve enabled the water contained in the cylinder +to be discharged, on which the piston again descended, and the +process was repeated like the successive strokes of a steam-engine. +Pump-rods were attached to this hydraulic apparatus, which were +carried to the bottom of the shaft, and each worked a pump at +different levels, raising the water stage by stage to the level of +the main adit. The pumps of these three several stages each raised +1790 cubic feet of water from a depth of 600 feet in the hour. The +regular working of the machinery was aided by the employment of a +balance-beam connected by a chain with the head of the large piston +and pump-rods; and the whole of these powerful machines by means of +three of which as much as 789,840 gallons of water were pumped out of +the mines every 24 hours -- were set in operation and regulated +merely by the turning of a stopcock. It will be observed that the +arrangement thus briefly described was equally applicable to the +working of machinery of all kinds, cranes, &c., as well as pumps; and +it will be noted that, notwithstanding the ingenuity of Bramah, +Armstrong, and other eminent English mechanics, the Austrian engineer +Holl was thus decidedly beforehand with them in the practical +application of the principles of hydrostatics. + ...] +In this, as in many other matters, Bramah shot ahead of the +mechanical necessities of his time; and hence many of his patents (of +which he held at one time more than twenty) proved altogether +profitless. His last patent, taken out in 1814, was for the +application of Roman cement to timber for the purpose of preventing +dry rot. + +Besides his various mechanical pursuits, Bramah also followed to a +certain extent the profession of a civil engineer, though his more +urgent engagements rendered it necessary for him to refuse many +advantageous offers of employment in this line. He was, however, led +to carry out the new water-works at Norwich, between the years l790 +and l793, in consequence of his having been called upon to give +evidence in a dispute between the corporation of that city and the +lessees, in the course of which he propounded plans which, it was +alleged, could not be carried out. To prove that they could be +carried out, and that his evidence was correct, he undertook the new +works, and executed them with complete success; besides demonstrating +in a spirited publication elicited by the controversy, the +insufficiency and incongruity of the plans which had been submitted +by the rival engineer. + +For some time prior to his death Bramah had been employed in the +erection of several large machines in his works at Pimlico for sawing +stone and timber, to which he applied his hydraulic power with great +success. New methods of building bridges and canal-locks, with a +variety of other matters, were in an embryo state in his mind, but he +did not live to complete them. He was occupied in superintending the +action of his hydrostatic press at Holt Forest, in Hants--where +upwards of 300 trees of the largest dimensions were in a very short +time torn up by the roots,--when he caught a severe cold, which +settled upon his lungs, and his life was suddenly brought to a close +on the 9th of December, 1814, in his 66th year. + +His friend, Dr. Cullen Brown,* + [footnote... +Dr. Brown published a brief memoir of his friend in the New Monthly +Magazine for April, 1815, which has been the foundation of all the +notices of Bramah's life that have heretofore appeared. + ...] +has said of him, that Bramah was a man of excellent moral character, +temperate in his habits, of a pious turn of mind,* + [footnote... +Notwithstanding his well-known religious character, Bramah seems to +have fallen under the grievous displeasure of William Huntington, +S.S. (Sinner Saved), described by Macaulay in his youth as "a +worthless ugly lad of the name of Hunter," and in his manhood as +"that remarkable impostor" (Essays, 1 vol. ed. 529). It seems that +Huntington sought the professional services of Bramah when +re-edifying his chapel in 1793; and at the conclusion of the work, +the engineer generously sent the preacher a cheque for 8l. towards +defraying the necessary expenses. Whether the sum was less than +Huntington expected, or from whatever cause, the S.S. contemptuously +flung back the gift, as proceeding from an Arian whose religion was +"unsavoury," at the same time hurling at the giver a number of texts +conveying epithets of an offensive character. Bramah replied to the +farrago of nonsense, which he characterised as "unmannerly, absurd, +and illiterate that it must have been composed when the writer was +"intoxicated, mad, or under the influence of Lucifer," and he +threatened that unless Huntington apologised for his gratuitous +insults, he (Bramah) would assuredly expose him. The mechanician +nevertheless proceeded gravely to explain and defend his "profession +of faith," which was altogether unnecessary. On this Huntington +returned to the charge, and directed against the mechanic a fresh +volley of Scripture texts and phraseology, not without humour, if +profanity be allowable in controversy, as where he says, "Poor man! +he makes a good patent lock, but cuts a sad figure with the keys of +the Kingdom of Heaven!" "What Mr. Bramah is," says S.S., "In respect +to his character or conduct in life, as a man, a tradesman, a +neighbour, a gentleman, a husband, friend, master, or subject, I know +not. In all these characters he may shine as a comet for aught I +know; but he appears to me to be as far from any resemblance to a +poor penitent or broken-hearted sinner as Jannes, Jambres, or +Alexander the coppersmith!" Bramah rejoined by threatening to publish +his assailant's letters, but Huntington anticipated him in A Feeble +Dispute with a Wise and Learned Man, 8vo. London, 1793, in which, +whether justly or not, Huntington makes Bramah appear to murder the +king's English in the most barbarous manner. + ...] +and so cheerful in temperament, that he was the life of every company +into which he entered. To much facility of expression he added the +most perfect independence of opinion; he was a benevolent and +affectionate man; neat and methodical in his habits, and knew well +how to temper liberality with economy. Greatly to his honour, he +often kept his workmen employed, solely for their sake, when +stagnation of trade prevented him disposing of the products of their +labour. As a manufacturer he was distinguished for his promptitude +and probity, and he was celebrated for the exquisite finish which he +gave to all his productions. In this excellence of workmanship, which +he was the first to introduce, he continued while he lived to be +unrivalled. + +Bramah was deservedly honoured and admired as the first mechanical +genius of his time, and as the founder of the art of tool-making in +its highest branches. From his shops at Pimlico came Henry Maudslay, +Joseph Clement, and many more first-class mechanics, who carried the +mechanical arts to still higher perfection, and gave an impulse to +mechanical engineering, the effects of which are still felt in every +branch of industry. + +The parish to which Bramah belonged was naturally proud of the +distinction he had achieved in the world, and commemorated his life +and career by a marble tablet erected by subscription to his memory, +in the parish church of Silkstone. In the churchyard are found the +tombstones of Joseph's father, brother, and other members of the +family; and we are informed that their descendants still occupy the +farm at Stainborough on which the great mechanician was born. + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +HENRY MAUDSLAY. + +"The successful construction of all machinery depends on the +perfection of the tools employed; and whoever is a master in the arts +of tool-making possesses the key to the construction of all +machines..... The contrivance and construction of tools must +therefore ever stand at the head of the industrial arts." +--C. BABBAGE, Exposition of 1851. + + +Henry Maudslay was born at Woolwich towards the end of last century, +in a house standing in the court at the back of the Salutation Inn, +the entrance to which is nearly opposite the Arsenal gates. His +father was a native of Lancashire, descended from an old family of +the same name, the head of which resided at Mawdsley Hall near +Ormskirk at the beginning of the seventeenth century. The family were +afterwards scattered, and several of its members became workmen. +William Maudslay, the father of Henry, belonged to the neighbourhood +of Bolton, where he was brought up to the trade of a joiner. His +principal employment, while working at his trade in Lancashire, +consisted in making the wood framing of cotton machinery, in the +construction of which cast-iron had not yet been introduced. Having +got into some trouble in his neighbourhood, through some alleged +LIAISON, William enlisted in the Royal Artillery, and the corps to +which he belonged was shortly after sent out to the West Indies. He +was several times engaged in battle, and in his last action he was +hit by a musket-bullet in the throat. The soldier's stock which he +wore had a piece cut out of it by the ball, the direction of which +was diverted, and though severely wounded, his life was saved. He +brought home the stock and preserved it as a relic, afterwards +leaving it to his son. Long after, the son would point to the stock, +hung up against his wall, and say "But for that bit of leather there +would have been no Henry Maudslay." The wounded artilleryman was +invalided and sent home to Woolwich, the headquarters of his corps, +where he was shortly after discharged. Being a handy workman, he +sought and obtained employment at the Arsenal. He was afterwards +appointed a storekeeper in the Dockyard. It was during the former +stage of William Maudslay's employment at Woolwich, that the subject +of this memoir was born in the house in the court above mentioned, on +the 22nd of August, 1771. + +The boy was early set to work. When twelve years old he was employed +as a "powder-monkey," in making and filling cartridges. After two +years, he was passed on to the carpenter's shop where his father +worked, and there he became acquainted with tools and the art of +working in wood and iron. From the first, the latter seems to have +had by far the greatest charms for him. The blacksmiths' shop was +close to the carpenters', and Harry seized every opportunity that +offered of plying the hammer, the file, and the chisel, in preference +to the saw and the plane. Many a cuff did the foreman of carpenters +give him for absenting himself from his proper shop and stealing off +to the smithy. His propensity was indeed so strong that, at the end +of a year, it was thought better, as he was a handy, clever boy, to +yield to his earnest desire to be placed in the smithy, and he was +removed thither accordingly in his fifteenth year. + +His heart being now in his work, he made rapid progress, and soon +became an expert smith and metal worker. He displayed his skill +especially in forging light ironwork; and a favourite job of his was +the making of "Trivets" out of the solid, which only the "dab hands" +of the shop could do, but which he threw off with great rapidity in +first rate style. These "Trivets" were made out of Spanish iron bolts +--rare stuff, which, though exceedingly tough, forged like wax under +the hammer. Even at the close of his life, when he had acquired +eminent distinction as an inventor, and was a large employer of +skilled labour, he looked back with pride to the forging of his early +days in Woolwich Arsenal. He used to describe with much gusto, how +the old experienced hands, with whom he was a great favourite, would +crowd about him when forging his "Trivets," some of which may to this +day be in use among Woolwich housewives for supporting the +toast-plate before the bright fire against tea time. This was, +however, entirely contraband work, done "on the sly," and strictly +prohibited by the superintending officer, who used kindly to signal +his approach by blowing his nose in a peculiar manner, so that all +forbidden jobs might be put out of the way by the time he entered the +shop. + +We have referred to Maudslay's early dexterity in trivet-making--a +circumstance trifling enough in itself--for the purpose of +illustrating the progress which he had made in a branch of his art of +the greatest importance in tool and machine making. Nothing pleased +him more in his after life than to be set to work upon an unusual +piece of forging, and to overcome, as none could do so cleverly as +he, the difficulties which it presented. The pride of art was as +strong in him as it must have been in the mediaeval smiths, who +turned out those beautiful pieces of workmanship still regarded as +the pride of our cathedrals and old mansions. In Maudslay's case, his +dexterity as a smith was eventually directed to machinery, rather +than ornamental work; though, had the latter been his line of labour, +we do not doubt that he would have reached the highest distinction. + +The manual skill which our young blacksmith had acquired was such as +to give him considerable reputation in his craft, and he was spoken +of even in the London shops as one of the most dexterous hands in the +trade. It was this circumstance that shortly after led to his removal +from the smithy in Woolwich Arsenal to a sphere more suitable for the +development of his mechanical ability. + +We have already stated in the preceding memoir, that Joseph Bramah +took out the first patent for his lock in 1784, and a second for its +improvement several years later; but notwithstanding the acknowledged +superiority of the new lock over all others, Bramah experienced the +greatest difficulty in getting it manufactured with sufficient +precision, and at such a price as to render it an article of +extensive commerce. This arose from the generally inferior character +of the workmanship of that day, as well as the clumsiness and +uncertainty of the tools then in use. Bramah found that even the best +manual dexterity was not to be trusted, and yet it seemed to be his +only resource; for machine-tools of a superior kind had not yet been +invented. In this dilemma he determined to consult an ingenious old +German artisan, then working with William Moodie, a general +blacksmith in Whitechapel. This German was reckoned one of the most +ingenious workmen in London at the time. Bramah had several long +interviews with him, with the object of endeavouring to solve the +difficult problem of how to secure precise workmanship in +lock-making. But they could not solve it; they saw that without +better tools the difficulty was insuperable; and then Bramah began to +fear that his lock would remain a mere mechanical curiosity, and be +prevented from coming into general use. + +He was indeed sorely puzzled what next to do, when one of the +hammermen in Moodie's shop ventured to suggest that there was a young +man in the Woolwich Arsenal smithy, named Maudslay, who was so +ingenious in such matters that "nothing bet him," and he recommended +that Mr. Bramah should have a talk with him upon the subject of his +difficulty. Maudslay was at once sent for to Bramah's workshop, and +appeared before the lock-maker, a tall, strong, comely young fellow, +then only eighteen years old. Bramah was almost ashamed to lay his +case before such a mere youth; but necessity constrained him to try +all methods of accomplishing his object, and Maudslay's suggestions +in reply to his statement of the case were so modest, so sensible, +and as the result proved, so practical, that the master was +constrained to admit that the lad before him had an old head though +set on young shoulders. Bramah decided to adopt the youth's +suggestions, made him a present on the spot, and offered to give him +a job if he was willing to come and work in a town shop. Maudslay +gladly accepted the offer, and in due time appeared before Bramah to +enter upon his duties. + +As Maudslay had served no regular apprenticeship, and was of a very +youthful appearance, the foreman of the shop had considerable doubts +as to his ability to take rank alongside his experienced hands. But +Maudslay soon set his master's and the foreman's mind at rest. +Pointing to a worn-out vice-bench, he said to Bramah, "Perhaps if I +can make that as good as new by six o'clock to-night, it will satisfy +your foreman that I am entitled to rank as a tradesman and take my +place among your men, even though I have not served a seven years' +apprenticeship." There was so much self-reliant ability in the +proposal, which was moreover so reasonable, that it was at once +acceded to. Off went Maudslay's coat, up went his shirt sleeves, and +to work he set with a will upon the old bench. The vice-jaws were +re-steeled "in no time," filed up, re-cut, all the parts cleaned and +made trim, and set into form again. By six o'clock, the old vice was +screwed up to its place, its jaws were hardened and "let down" to +proper temper, and the old bench was made to look so smart and neat +that it threw all the neighbouring benches into the shade! Bramah and +his foreman came round to see it, while the men of the shop looked +admiringly on. It was examined and pronounced "a first-rate job." +This diploma piece of work secured Maudslay's footing, and next +Monday morning he came on as one of the regular hands. + +He soon took rank in the shop as a first-class workman. Loving his +art, he aimed at excellence in it, and succeeded. For it must be +understood that the handicraftsman whose heart is in his calling, +feels as much honest pride in turning out a piece of thoroughly good +workmanship, as the sculptor or the painter does in executing a +statue or a picture. In course of time, the most difficult and +delicate jobs came to be entrusted to Maudslay; and nothing gave him +greater pleasure than to be set to work upon an entirely new piece of +machinery. And thus he rose, naturally and steadily, from hand to +head work. For his manual dexterity was the least of his gifts. He +possessed an intuitive power of mechanical analysis and synthesis. He +had a quick eye to perceive the arrangements requisite to effect +given purposes; and whenever a difficulty arose, his inventive mind +set to work to overcome it. + +His fellow-workmen were not slow to recognise his many admirable +qualities, of hand, mind, and heart; and he became not only the +favourite, but the hero of the shop. Perhaps he owed something to his +fine personal appearance. Hence on gala-days, when the men turned out +in procession, "Harry" was usually selected to march at their head +and carry the flag. His conduct as a son, also, was as admirable as +his qualities as a workman. His father dying shortly after Maudslay +entered Bramah's concern, he was accustomed to walk down to Woolwich +every Saturday night, and hand over to his mother, for whom he had +the tenderest regard, a considerable share of his week's wages, and +this he continued to do as long as she lived. + +Notwithstanding his youth, he was raised from one post to another, +until he was appointed, by unanimous consent, the head foreman of the +works; and was recognised by all who had occasion to do business +there as "Bramah's right-hand man." He not only won the heart of his +master, but--what proved of far greater importance to him--he also +won the heart of his master's pretty housemaid, Sarah Tindel by name, +whom he married, and she went hand-in-hand with him through life, an +admirable "help meet," in every way worthy of the noble character of +the great mechanic. Maudslay was found especially useful by his +master in devising the tools for making his patent locks; and many +were the beautiful contrivances which he invented for the purpose of +ensuring their more accurate and speedy manufacture, with a minimum +degree of labour, and without the need of any large amount of manual +dexterity on the part of the workman. The lock was so delicate a +machine, that the identity of the several parts of which it was +composed was found to be an absolute necessity. Mere handicraft, +however skilled, could not secure the requisite precision of +workmanship; nor could the parts be turned out in sufficient quantity +to meet any large demand. It was therefore requisite to devise +machine-tools which should not blunder, nor turn out imperfect +work;-- machines, in short, which should be in a great measure +independent of the want of dexterity of individual workmen, but which +should unerringly labour in their prescribed track, and do the work +set them, even in the minutest details, after the methods designed by +their inventor. In this department Maudslay was eminently successful, +and to his laborious ingenuity, as first displayed in Bramah's +workshops, and afterwards in his own establishment, we unquestionably +owe much of the power and accuracy of our present self-acting +machines. + +Bramah himself was not backward in admitting that to Henry Maudslay's +practical skill in contriving the machines for manufacturing his +locks on a large scale, the success of his invention was in a great +degree attributable. In further proof of his manual dexterity, it may +be mentioned that he constructed with his own hands the identical +padlock which so severely tested the powers of Mr. Hobbs in 1851. And +when it is considered that the lock had been made for more than half +a century, and did not embody any of the modern improvements, it will +perhaps be regarded not only as creditable to the principles on which +it was constructed, but to the workmanship of its maker, that it +should so long have withstood the various mechanical dexterity to +which it was exposed. + +Besides the invention of improved machine-tools for the manufacture +of locks, Maudslay was of further service to Bramah in applying the +expedient to his famous Hydraulic Press, without which it would +probably have remained an impracticable though a highly ingenious +machine. As in other instances of great inventions, the practical +success of the whole is often found to depend upon the action of some +apparently trifling detail. This was especially the case with the +hydraulic press; to which Maudslay added the essential feature of the +self-tightening collar, above described in the memoir of Bramah. Mr. +James Nasmyth is our authority for ascribing this invention to +Maudslay, who was certainly quite competent to have made it; and it +is a matter of fact that Bramah's specification of the press says +nothing of the hollow collar,* + [footnote... +The words Bramah uses in describing this part of his patent of 1795 +are these--"The piston must be made perfectly watertight by leather +or other materials, as used in pump-making." He elsewhere speaks of +the piston-rod "working through the stuffing-box." But in practice, +as we have above shown, these methods were found to be altogether +inefficient. + ...] +on which its efficient action mainly depends. Mr. Nasmyth +says--"Maudslay himself told me, or led me to believe, that it was he +who invented the self-tightening collar for the hydraulic press, +without which it would never have been a serviceable machine. As the +self-tightening collar is to the hydraulic press, so is the +steamblast to the locomotive. It is the one thing needful that has +made it effective in practice. If Maudslay was the inventor of the +collar, that one contrivance ought to immortalize him. He used to +tell me of it with great gusto, and I have no reason to doubt the +correctness of his statement." Whoever really struck out the idea of +the collar, displayed the instinct of the true inventor, who +invariably seeks to accomplish his object by the adoption of the +simplest possible means. + +During the time that Maudslay held the important office of manager of +Bramah's works, his highest wages were not more than thirty shillings +a-week. He himself thought that he was worth more to his master--as +indeed he was,--and he felt somewhat mortified that he should have to +make an application for an advance; but the increasing expenses of +his family compelled him in a measure to do so. His application was +refused in such a manner as greatly to hurt his sensitive feelings; +and the result was that he threw up his situation, and determined to +begin working on his own account. + +His first start in business was in the year 1797, in a small workshop +and smithy situated in Wells Street, Oxford Street. It was in an +awful state of dirt and dilapidation when he became its tenant. He +entered the place on a Friday, but by the Saturday evening, with the +help of his excellent wife, he had the shop thoroughly cleaned, +whitewashed, and put in readiness for beginning work on the next +Monday morning. He had then the pleasure of hearing the roar of his +own forge-fire, and the cheering ring of the hammer on his own anvil; +and great was the pride he felt in standing for the first time within +his own smithy and executing orders for customers on his own account. +His first customer was an artist, who gave him an order to execute +the iron work of a large easel, embodying some new arrangements; and +the work was punctually done to his employer's satisfaction. Other +orders followed, and he soon became fully employed. His fame as a +first-rate workman was almost as great as that of his former master; +and many who had been accustomed to do business with him at Pimlico +followed him to Wells Street. Long years after, the thought of these +early days of self-dependence and hard work used to set him in a +glow, and he would dilate to his intimate friends up on his early +struggles and his first successes, which were much more highly prized +by him than those of his maturer years. + +With a true love of his craft, Maudslay continued to apply himself, +as he had done whilst working as Bramah's foreman, to the best +methods of ensuring accuracy and finish of work, so as in a measure +to be independent of the carelessness or want of dexterity of the +workman. With this object he aimed at the contrivance of improved +machine-tools, which should be as much self-acting and +self-regulating as possible; and it was while pursuing this study +that he wrought out the important mechanical invention with which his +name is usually identified--that of the Slide Rest. It continued to +be his special delight, when engaged in the execution of any piece of +work in which he took a personal interest, to introduce a system of +identity of parts, and to adapt for the purpose some one or other of +the mechanical contrivances with which his fertile brain was always +teeming. Thus it was from his desire to leave nothing to the chance +of mere individual dexterity of hand that he introduced the slide +rest in the lathe, and rendered it one of the most important of +machine-tools. The first device of this kind was contrived by him for +Bramah, in whose shops it continued in practical use long after he +had begun business for himself. "I have seen the slide rest," says +Mr. James Nasmyth, "the first that Henry Maudslay made, in use at +Messrs. Bramah's workshops, and in it were all those arrangements +which are to be found in the most modern slide rest of our own day,* + [footnote... +In this lathe the slide rest and frame were moveable along the +traversing-bar, according to the length of the work, and could be +placed in any position and secured by a handle and screw underneath. +The Rest, however, afterwards underwent many important modifications; +but the principle of the whole machine was there. + ...] +all of which are the legitimate offspring of Maudslay's original +rest. If this tool be yet extant, it ought to be preserved with the +greatest care, for it was the beginning of those mechanical triumphs +which give to the days in which we live so much of their +distinguishing character." + +A very few words of explanation will serve to illustrate the +importance of Maudslay's invention. Every person is familiar with the +uses of the common turning-lathe. It is a favourite machine with +amateur mechanics, and its employment is indispensable for the +execution of all kinds of rounded work in wood and metal. Perhaps +there is no contrivance by which the skill of the handicraftsman has +been more effectually aided than by this machine. Its origin is lost +in the shades of antiquity. Its most ancient form was probably the +potter's wheel, from which it advanced, by successive improvements, +to its present highly improved form. It was found that, by whatever +means a substance capable of being cut could be made to revolve with +a circular motion round a fixed right line as a centre, a cutting +tool applied to its surface would remove the inequalities so that any +part of such surface should be equidistant from that centre. Such is +the fundamental idea of the ordinary turning-lathe. The ingenuity and +experience of mechanics working such an instrument enabled them to +add many improvements to it; until the skilful artisan at length +produced not merely circular turning of the most beautiful and +accurate description, but exquisite figure-work, and complicated +geometrical designs, depending upon the cycloidal and eccentric +movements which were from time to time added to the machine. + +The artisans of the Middle Ages were very skilful in the use of the +lathe, and turned out much beautiful screen and stall work, still to +be seen in our cathedrals, as well as twisted and swash-work for the +balusters of staircases and other ornamental purposes. English +mechanics seem early to have distinguished themselves as improvers of +the lathe; and in Moxon's 'Treatise on Turning,' published in 1680, +we find Mr. Thomas Oldfield, at the sign of the Flower-de-Luce, near +the Savoy in the Strand, named as an excellent maker of oval-engines +and swash-engines, showing that such machines were then in some +demand. The French writer Plumier* + [footnote... +PLUMIER, L'Art de Tourner, Paris, 1754, p. 155. ...] +also mentions an ingenious modification of the lathe by means of +which any kind of reticulated form could be given to the work; and, +from it's being employed to ornament the handles of knives, it was +called by him the "Machine a manche de Couteau d'Angleterre." But +the French artisans were at that time much better skilled than the +English in the use of tools, and it is most probable that we owe to +the Flemish and French Protestant workmen who flocked into England in +such large numbers during the religious persecutions of the sixteenth +and seventeenth centuries, the improvement, if not the introduction, +of the art of turning, as well as many other arts hereafter to be +referred to. It is certain that at the period to which we refer +numerous treatises were published in France on the art of turning, +some of them of a most elaborate character. Such were the works of +De la Hire,* + [footnote... +Machines approuvees par l' Academie, 1719. + ...] +who described how every kind of polygon might be made by the lathe; +De la Condamine,* + [footnote... +Machines approuvees par l' Academie, 1733. + ...] +who showed how a lathe could turn all sorts of irregular figures by +means of tracers; and of Grand Jean, Morin,* + [footnote... +L'Art de Tourner en perfection, 49. + ...] + Plumier, Bergeron, and many other writers. + +The work of Plumier is especially elaborate, entering into the +construction of the lathe in its various parts, the making of the +tools and cutters, and the different motions to be given to the +machine by means of wheels, eccentrics, and other expedients, amongst +which may be mentioned one very much resembling the slide rest and +planing-machine combined.* + [footnote... +It consisted of two parallel bars of wood or iron connected together +at both extremities by bolts or keys of sufficient width to admit of +the article required to be planed. A moveable frame was placed +between the two bars, motion being given to it by a long cylindrical +thread acting on any tool put into the sliding frame, and, +consequently, causing the screw, by means of a handle at each end of +it, to push or draw the point or cutting-edge of the tool either +way.--Mr. George Rennie's Preface to Buchanan's Practical Essays on +Mill Work, 3rd Ed. xli. + ...] + From this work it appears that turning had long been a favourite +pursuit in France with amateurs of all ranks, who spared no expense +in the contrivance and perfection of elaborate machinery for the +production of complex figures.* + [footnote... +Turning was a favourite amusement amongst the French nobles of last +century, many of whom acquired great dexterity in the art, which they +turned to account when compelled to emigrate at the Revolution. Louis +XVI. himself was a very good locksmith, and could have earned a fair +living at the trade. Our own George III. was a good turner, and was +learned in wheels and treadles, chucks and chisels. Henry Mayhew +says, on the authority of an old working turner, that, with average +industry, the King might have made from 40s. to 50s. a-week as a hard +wood and ivory turner. Lord John Hay, though one-armed, was an adept +at the latter, and Lord Gray was another capital turner. Indeed the +late Mr. Holtzapffel's elaborately illustrated treatise was written +quite as much for amateurs as for working mechanics. Among other +noble handicraftsmen we may mention the late Lord Douglas, who +cultivated bookbinding. Lord Traquair's fancy was cutlery, and one +could not come to him in a more welcome fashion than with a pair of +old razors to set up. + ...] +There was at that time a great passion for automata in France, which +gave rise to many highly ingenious devices, such as Camus's miniature +carriage (made for Louis XIV. when a child), Degennes' mechanical +peacock, Vancanson's duck, and Maillardet's conjuror. It had the +effect of introducing among the higher order of artists habits of +nice and accurate workmanship in executing delicate pieces of +machinery; and the same combination of mechanical powers which made +the steel spider crawl, the duck quack, or waved the tiny rod of the +magician, contributed in future years to purposes of higher +import,--the wheels and pinions, which in these automata almost +eluded the human senses by their minuteness, reappearing in modern +times in the stupendous mechanism of our self-acting lathes, +spinning-mules, and steam-engines. + +"In our own country," says Professor Willis, "the literature of this +subject is so defective that it is very difficult to discover what +progress we were making during the seventeenth and eighteenth +centuries."* + [footnote... +Professor WILLIS, Lectures on the Results of the Great Exhibition of +1851, lst series, p. 306. + ...] +We believe the fact to be, that the progress made in England down to +the end of last century had been very small indeed, and that the +lathe had experienced little or no improvement until Maudslay took it +in hand. Nothing seems to have been known of the slide rest until he +re-invented it and applied it to the production of machinery of a far +more elaborate character than had ever before been contemplated as +possible. Professor Willis says that Bramah's, in other words +Maudslay's, slide rest of 1794 is so different from that described in +the French 'Encyclopedie in 1772, that the two could not have had a +common origin. We are therefore led to the conclusion that Maudslay's +invention was entirely independent of all that had gone before, and +that he contrived it for the special purpose of overcoming the +difficulties which he himself experienced in turning out duplicate +parts in large numbers. At all events, he was so early and zealous a +promoter of its use, that we think he may, in the eyes of all +practical mechanics, stand as the parent of its introduction to the +workshops of England. + +It is unquestionable that at the time when Maudslay began the +improvement of machine-tools, the methods of working in wood and +metals were exceedingly imperfect. Mr. William Fairbairn has stated +that when he first became acquainted with mechanical engineering, +about sixty years ago, there were no self-acting tools; everything +was executed by hand. There were neither planing, slotting, nor +shaping machines; and the whole stock of an engineering or machine +establishment might be summed up in a few ill-constructed lathes, and +a few drills and boring machines of rude construction.* + [footnote... +Address delivered before the British Association at Manchester in +1861; and Useful Information for Engineers, 1st series, p. 22. + ...] +Our mechanics were equally backward in contrivances for working in +wood. Thus, when Sir Samuel Bentham made a tour through the +manufacturing districts of England in 1791, he was surprised to find +how little had been done to substitute the invariable accuracy of +machinery for the uncertain dexterity of the human hand. Steam-power +was as yet only employed in driving spinning-machines, rolling +metals, pumping water, and such like purposes. In the working of wood +no machinery had been introduced beyond the common turning-lathe and +some saws, and a few boring tools used in making blocks for the navy. +Even saws worked by inanimate force for slitting timber, though in +extensive use in foreign countries, were nowhere to be found in Great +Britain.* + [footnote... +Life of Sir Samuel Bentham, 97-8. + ...] +As everything depended on the dexterity of hand and correctness of +eye of the workmen, the work turned out was of very unequal merit, +besides being exceedingly costly. Even in the construction of +comparatively simple machines, the expense was so great as to present +a formidable obstacle to their introduction and extensive use; and +but for the invention of machine-making tools, the use of the +steam-engine in the various forms in which it is now applied for the +production of power could never have become general. + +In turning a piece of work on the old-fashioned lathe, the workman +applied and guided his tool by means of muscular strength. The work +was made to revolve, and the turner, holding the cutting tool firmly +upon the long, straight, guiding edge of the rest, along which he +carried it, and pressing its point firmly against the article to be +turned, was thus enabled to reduce its surface to the required size +and shape. Some dexterous turners were able, with practice and +carefulness, to execute very clever pieces of work by this simple +means. But when the article to be turned was of considerable size, +and especially when it was of metal, the expenditure of muscular +strength was so great that the workman soon became exhausted. The +slightest variation in the pressure of the tool led to an +irregularity of surface; and with the utmost care on the workman's +part, he could not avoid occasionally cutting a little too deep, in +consequence of which he must necessarily go over the surface again, +to reduce the whole to the level of that accidentally cut too deep; +and thus possibly the job would be altogether spoiled by the diameter +of the article under operation being made too small for its intended +purpose. + +The introduction of the slide rest furnished a complete remedy for +this source of imperfection. The principle of the invention consists +in constructing and fitting the rest so that, instead of being +screwed down to one place, and the tool in the hands of the workman +travelling over it, the rest shall itself hold the cutting tool +firmly fixed in it, and slide along the surface of the bench in a +direction exactly parallel with the axis of the work. Before its +invention various methods had been tried with the object of enabling +the work to be turned true independent of the dexterity of the +workman. Thus, a square steel cutter used to be firmly fixed in a +bed, along which it was wedged from point to point of the work, and +tolerable accuracy was in this way secured. But the slide rest was +much more easily managed, and the result was much more satisfactory. +All that the workman had to do, after the tool was firmly fitted into +the rest, was merely to turn a screw-handle, and thus advance the +cutter along the face of the work as required, with an expenditure of +strength so slight as scarcely to be appreciable. And even this +labour has now been got rid of; for, by an arrangement of the +gearing, the slide itself has been made self-acting, and advances +with the revolution of the work in the lathe, which thus supplies the +place of the workman's hand. The accuracy of the turning done by this +beautiful yet simple arrangement is as mechanically perfect as work +can be. The pair of steel fingers which hold the cutting tool firmly +in their grasp never tire, and it moves along the metal to be cut +with an accuracy and precision which the human hand, however skilled, +could never equal. + +The effects of the introduction of the slide rest were very shortly +felt in all departments of mechanism. Though it had to encounter some +of the ridicule with which new methods of working are usually +received, and for a time was spoken of in derision as "Maudslay's +Go-cart,"--its practical advantages were so decided that it gradually +made its way, and became an established tool in all the best +mechanical workshops. It was found alike capable of executing the +most delicate and the most ponderous pieces of machinery; and as +slide-lathes could be manufactured to any extent, machinery, +steam-engines, and all kinds of metal work could now be turned out in +a quantity and at a price that, but for its use, could never have +been practicable. In course of time various modifications of the +machine were introduced--such as the planing machine, the +wheel-cutting machine, and other beautiful tools on the slide-rest +principle,--the result of which has been that extraordinary +development of mechanical production and power which is so +characteristic a feature of the age we live in. + +"It is not, indeed, saying at all too much to state," says Mr. +Nasmyth,* + [footnote... +Remarks on the Introduction of the Slide Principle in Tools and +Machines employed in the Production of Machinery, in Buchanan's +Practical Essays on Mill Work and other Machinery. 3rd ed. p. 397. + ...] +a most competent judge in such a matter, "that its influence in +improving and extending the use of machinery has been as great as +that produced by the improvement of the steam-engine in respect to +perfecting manufactures and extending commerce, inasmuch as without +the aid of the vast accession to our power of producing perfect +mechanism which it at once supplied, we could never have worked out +into practical and profitable forms the conceptions of those master +minds who, during the last half century, have so successfully +pioneered the way for mankind. The steam-engine itself, which +supplies us with such unbounded power, owes its present perfection to +this most admirable means of giving to metallic objects the most +precise and perfect geometrical forms. How could we, for instance, +have good steam-engines if we had not the means of boring out a true +cylinder, or turning a true piston-rod, or planing a valve face? It +is this alone which has furnished us with the means of carrying into +practice the accumulated result's of scientific investigation on +mechanical subjects. It would be blamable indeed," continues Mr. +Nasmyth, "after having endeavoured to set forth the vast advantages +which have been conferred on the mechanical world, and therefore on +mankind generally, by the invention and introduction of the Slide +Rest, were I to suppress the name of that admirable individual to +whom we are indebted for this powerful agent towards the attainment +of mechanical perfection. I allude to Henry Maudslay, whose useful +life was enthusiastically devoted to the grand object of improving +our means of producing perfect workmanship and machinery: to him we +are certainly indebted for the slide rest, and, consequently, to say +the least, we are indirectly so for the vast benefits which have +resulted from the introduction of so powerful an agent in perfecting +our machinery and mechanism generally. The indefatigable care which +he took in inculcating and diffusing among his workmen, and +mechanical men generally, sound ideas of practical knowledge and +refined views of construction, have rendered and ever will continue +to render his name identified with all that is noble in the ambition +of a lover of mechanical perfection." + +One of the first uses to which Mr. Maudslay applied the improved +slide rest, which he perfected shortly after beginning business in +Margaret Street, Cavendish Square, was in executing the requisite +tools and machinery required by Mr. (afterwards Sir Marc Isambard) +Brunel for manufacturing ships' blocks. The career of Brunel was of a +more romantic character than falls to the ordinary lot of mechanical +engineers. His father was a small farmer and postmaster, at the +village of Hacqueville, in Normandy, where Marc Isambard was born in +1769. He was early intended for a priest, and educated accordingly. +But he was much fonder of the carpenter's shop than of the school; +and coaxing, entreaty, and punishment alike failed in making a +hopeful scholar of him. He drew faces and plans until his father was +almost in despair. Sent to school at Rouen, his chief pleasure was in +watching the ships along the quays; and one day his curiosity was +excited by the sight of some large iron castings just landed. What +were they? How had they been made? Where did they come from? His +eager inquiries were soon answered. They were parts of an engine +intended for the great Paris water-works; the engine was to pump +water by the power of steam; and the castings had been made in +England, and had just been landed from an English ship. "England!" +exclaimed the boy, "ah! when I am a man I will go see the country +where such grand machines are made!" On one occasion, seeing a new +tool in a cutler's window, he coveted it so much that he pawned his +hat to possess it. This was not the right road to the priesthood; and +his father soon saw that it was of no use urging him further: but the +boy's instinct proved truer than the father's judgment. + +It was eventually determined that he should qualify himself to enter +the royal navy, and at seventeen he was nominated to serve in a +corvette as "volontaire d'honneur." His ship was paid off in 1792, +and he was at Paris during the trial of the King. With the +incautiousness of youth he openly avowed his royalist opinions in the +cafe which he frequented. On the very day that Louis was condemned +to death, Brunel had an angry altercation with some +ultra-republicans, after which he called to his dog, "Viens, +citoyen!" Scowling looks were turned upon him, and he deemed it +expedient to take the first opportunity of escaping from the house, +which he did by a back-door, and made the best of his way to +Hacqueville. From thence he went to Rouen, and succeeded in finding a +passage on board an American ship, in which he sailed for New York, +having first pledged his affections to an English girl, Sophia +Kingdom, whom he had accidentally met at the house of Mr. Carpentier, +the American consul at Rouen. + +Arrived in America, he succeeded in finding employment as assistant +surveyor of a tract of land along the Black River, near Lake Ontario. +In the intervals of his labours he made occasional visits to New +York, and it was there that the first idea of his block-machinery +occurred to him. He carried his idea back with him into the woods, +where it often mingled with his thoughts of Sophia Kingdom, by this +time safe in England after passing through the horrors of a French +prison. "My first thought of the block-machinery," he once said, "was +at a dinner party at Major-General Hamilton's, in New York; my second +under an American tree, when, one day that I was carving letters on +its bark, the turn of one of them reminded me of it, and I thought, +'Ah! my block! so it must be.' And what do you think. were the +letters I was cutting? Of course none other than S. K." Brunel +subsequently obtained some employment as an architect in New York, +and promulgated various plans for improving the navigation of the +principal rivers. Among the designs of his which were carried out, +was that of the Park Theatre at New York, and a cannon foundry, in +which he introduced improvements in casting and boring big guns. But +being badly paid for his work, and a powerful attraction drawing him +constantly towards England, he determined to take final leave of +America, which he did in 1799, and landed at Falmouth in the +following March. There he again met Miss Kingdom, who had remained +faithful to him during his six long years of exile, and the pair were +shortly after united for life. + +Brunel was a prolific inventor. During his residence in America, he +had planned many contrivances in his mind, which he now proceeded to +work out. The first was a duplicate writing and drawing machine, +which he patented. The next was a machine for twisting cotton thread +and forming it into balls; but omitting to protect it by a patent, he +derived no benefit from the invention, though it shortly came into +very general use. He then invented a machine for trimmings and +borders for muslins, lawns, and cambrics,--of the nature of a sewing +machine. His famous block-machinery formed the subject of his next +patent. + +It may be explained that the making of the blocks employed in the +rigging of ships for raising and lowering the sails, masts, and +yards, was then a highly important branch of manufacture. Some idea +may be formed of the number used in the Royal Navy alone, from the +fact that a 74-gun ship required to be provided with no fewer than +1400 blocks of various sizes. The sheaved blocks used for the running +rigging consisted of the shell, the sheaves, which revolved within +the shell, and the pins which fastened them together. The fabrication +of these articles, though apparently simple, was in reality attended +with much difficulty. Every part had to be fashioned with great +accuracy and precision to ensure the easy working of the block when +put together, as any hitch in the raising or lowering of the sails +might, on certain emergencies, occasion a serious disaster. Indeed, +it became clear that mere hand-work was not to be relied on in the +manufacture of these articles, and efforts were early made to produce +them by means of machinery of the most perfect kind that could be +devised. In 1781, Mr. Taylor, of Southampton, set up a large +establishment on the river Itchen for their manufacture; and on the +expiry of his contract, the Government determined to establish works +of their own in Portsmouth Dockyard, for the purpose at the same time +of securing greater economy, and of being independent of individual +makers in the supply of an article of such importance in the +equipment of ships. + +Sir Samuel Bentham, who then filled the office of Inspector-General +of Naval Works, was a highly ingenious person, and had for some years +been applying his mind to the invention of improved machinery for +working in wood. He had succeeded in introducing into the royal +dockyards sawing-machines and planing-machines of a superior kind, as +well as block-making machines. Thus the specification of one of his +patents, taken out in 1793, clearly describes a machine for shaping +the shells of the blocks, in a manner similar to that afterwards +specified by Brunel. Bentham had even proceeded with the erection of +a building in Portsmouth Dockyard for the manufacture of the blocks +after his method, the necessary steam-engine being already provided; +but with a singular degree of candour and generosity, on Brunel's +method being submitted to him, Sir Samuel at once acknowledged its +superiority to his own, and promised to recommend its adoption by the +authorities in his department. + +The circumstance of Mrs. Brunel's brother being Under-Secretary to +the Navy Board at the time, probably led Brunel in the first instance +to offer his invention to the Admiralty. A great deal, however, +remained to be done before he could bring his ideas of the +block-machinery into a definite shape; for there is usually a wide +interval between the first conception of an intricate machine and its +practical realization. Though Brunel had a good knowledge of +mechanics, and was able to master the intricacies of any machine, he +laboured under the disadvantage of not being a practical mechanic and +it is probable that but for the help of someone possessed of this +important qualification, his invention, ingenious and important +though it was, would have borne no practical fruits. It was at this +juncture that he was so fortunate as to be introduced to Henry +Maudslay, the inventor of the sliderest. + +It happened that a M. de Bacquancourt, one of the French emigres, +of whom there were then so many in London, was accustomed almost +daily to pass Maudslay's little shop in Wells-street, and being +himself an amateur turner, he curiously inspected the articles from +time to time exhibited in the window of the young mechanic. One day a +more than ordinarily nice piece of screw-cutting made its appearance, +on which he entered the shop to make inquiries as to the method by +which it had been executed. He had a long conversation with Maudslay, +with whom he was greatly pleased; and he was afterwards accustomed to +look in upon him occasionally to see what new work was going on. +Bacquancourt was also on intimate terms with Brunel, who communicated +to him the difficulty he had experienced in finding a mechanic of +sufficient dexterity to execute his design of the block-making +machinery. It immediately occurred to the former that Henry Maudslay +was the very man to execute work of the elaborate character proposed, +and he described to Brunel the new and beautiful tools which Maudslay +had contrived for the purpose of ensuring accuracy and finish. Brunel +at once determined to call upon Maudslay, and it was arranged that +Bacquancourt should introduce him, which he did, and after the +interview which took place Brunel promised to call again with the +drawings of his proposed model. + +A few days passed, and Brunel called with the first drawing, done by +himself; for he was a capital draughtsman, and used to speak of +drawing as the "alphabet of the engineer." The drawing only showed a +little bit of the intended machine, and Brunel did not yet think it +advisable to communicate to Maudslay the precise object he had in +view; for inventors are usually very chary of explaining their +schemes to others, for fear of being anticipated. Again Brunel +appeared at Maudslay's shop with a further drawing, still not +explaining his design; but at the third visit, immediately on looking +at the fresh drawings he had brought, Maudslay exclaimed, "Ah! now I +see what you are thinking of; you want machinery for making blocks." +At this Brunel became more communicative, and explained his designs +to the mechanic, who fully entered into his views, and went on from +that time forward striving to his utmost to work out the inventor's +conceptions and embody them in a practical machine. + +While still occupied on the models, which were begun in 1800, +Maudslay removed his shop from Wells-street, where he was assisted by +a single journeyman, to Margaret-street, Cavendish-square, where he +had greater room for carrying on his trade, and was also enabled to +increase the number of his hands. The working models were ready for +inspection by Sir Samuel Bentham and the Lords of the Admiralty in +1801, and having been fully approved by them, Brunel was authorized +to proceed with the execution of the requisite machinery for the +manufacture of the ship's blocks required for the Royal Navy. The +whole of this machinery was executed by Henry Maudslay; it occupied +him very fully for nearly six years, so that the manufacture of +blocks by the new process was not begun until September, 1808. + +We despair of being able to give any adequate description in words of +the intricate arrangements and mode of action of the block-making +machinery. Let any one attempt to describe the much more simple and +familiar process by which a shoemaker makes a pair of shoes, and he +will find how inadequate mere words are to describe any mechanical +operation.* + [footnote... +So far as words and drawings can serve to describe the block-making +machinery, it will be found very ably described by Mr. Farey in his +article under this head in Rees's Cyclopaedia, and by Dr. Brewster in +the Edinburgh Cyclopaedia. A very good account will also be found in +Tomlinson's Cyclopaedia of the Useful Arts, Art. "Block." + ...] +Suffice it to say, that the machinery was of the most beautiful +manufacture and finish, and even at this day will bear comparison +with the most perfect machines which can be turned out with all the +improved appliances of modern tools. The framing was of cast-iron, +while the parts exposed to violent and rapid action were all of the +best hardened steel. In turning out the various parts, Maudslay found +his slide rest of indispensable value. Indeed, without this +contrivance, it is doubtful whether machinery of so delicate and +intricate a character could possibly have been executed. There was +not one, but many machines in the series, each devoted to a special +operation in the formation of a block. Thus there were various +sawing-machines,--the Straight Cross-Cutting Saw, the Circular +Cross-Cutting Saw, the Reciprocating Ripping-saw, and the Circular +Ripping-Saw. Then there were the Boring Machines, and the Mortising +Machine, of beautiful construction, for cutting the sheave-holes, +furnished with numerous chisels, each making from 110 to 150 strokes +a minute, and cutting at every stroke a chip as thick as pasteboard +with the utmost precision. In addition to these were the Corner-Saw +for cutting off the corners of the block, the Shaping Machine for +accurately forming the outside surfaces, the Scoring Engine for +cutting the groove round the longest diameter of the block for the +reception of the rope, and various other machines for drilling, +riveting, and finishing the blocks, besides those for making the +sheaves. + +The total number of machines employed in the various operations of +making a ship's block by the new method was forty-four; and after +being regularly employed in Portsmouth Dockyard for upwards of fifty +years, they are still as perfect in their action as on the day they +were erected. They constitute one of the most ingenious and complete +collections of tools ever invented for making articles in wood, being +capable of performing most of the practical operations of carpentry +with the utmost accuracy and finish. The machines are worked by a +steam-engine of 32-horse power, which is also used for various other +dockyard purposes. Under the new system of block-making it was found +that the articles were better made, supplied with much greater +rapidity, and executed at a greatly reduced cost. Only ten men, with +the new machinery, could perform the work which before had required a +hundred and ten men to execute, and not fewer than 160,000 blocks of +various kinds and sizes could be turned out in a year, worth not less +than 541,000L.* + [footnote... +The remuneration paid to Mr. Brunel for his share in the invention +was only one year's savings, which, however, were estimated by Sir +Samuel Bentham at 17,663l.; besides which a grant of 5000L. was +afterwards made to Brunel when labouring under pecuniary +difficulties. But the ANNUAL saving to the nation by the adoption of +the block-making machinery was probably more than the entire sum paid +to the engineer. Brunel afterwards invented other wood-working +machinery, but none to compare in merit and excellence with the +above, For further particulars of his career, see BEAMISH'S Memoirs +of Sir Marc Isambard Brunel, C.E. London. 1862. ...] + +The satisfactory execution of the block-machinery brought Maudslay a +large accession of fame and business; and the premises in Margaret +Street proving much too limited for his requirements, he again +resolved to shift his quarters. He found a piece of ground suitable +for his purpose in Westminster Road, Lambeth. Little more than a +century since it formed part of a Marsh, the name of which is still +retained in the adjoining street; its principal productions being +bulrushes and willows, which were haunted in certain seasons by snipe +and waterfowl. An enterprising riding-master had erected some +premises on a part of the marsh, which he used for a riding-school; +but the speculation not answering, they were sold, and Henry Maudslay +became the proprietor. Hither he removed his machinery from Margaret +Street in 1810, adding fresh plant from time to time as it was +required; and with the aid of his late excellent partner he built up +the far-famed establishment of Maudslay, Field, and Co. There he went +on improving his old tools and inventing new ones, as the necessity +for them arose, until the original slide-lathes used for making the +block-machinery became thrown into the shade by the comparatively +gigantic machine-tools of the modern school. Yet the original lathes +are still to be found in the collection of the firm in Westminster +Road, and continue to do their daily quota of work with the same +precision as they did when turned out of the hands of their inventor +and maker some sixty years ago. + +It is unnecessary that we should describe in any great detail the +further career of Henry Maudslay. The rest of his life was full of +useful and profitable work to others as well as to himself. His +business embraced the making of flour and saw mills, mint machinery, +and steam-engines of all kinds. Before he left Margaret Street, in +1807, he took out a patent for improvements in the steam-engine, by +which he much simplified its parts, and secured greater directness of +action. His new engine was called the Pyramidal, because of its form, +and was the first move towards what are now called Direct-acting +Engines, in which the lateral movement of the piston is communicated +by connecting-rods to the rotatory movement of the crank-shaft. Mr. +Nasmyth says of it, that "on account of its great simplicity and +GET-AT-ABILITY of parts, its compactness and self-contained +steadiness, this engine has been the parent of a vast progeny, all +more or less marked by the distinguishing features of the original +design, which is still in as high favour as ever." Mr. Maudslay also +directed his attention in like manner to the improvement of the +marine engine, which he made so simple and effective as to become in +a great measure the type of its class; and it has held its ground +almost unchanged for nearly thirty years. The 'Regent,' which was the +first steamboat that plied between London and Margate, was fitted +with engines by Maudslay in 1816; and it proved the forerunner of a +vast number of marine engines, the manufacture of which soon became +one of the most important branches of mechanical engineering. + +Another of Mr. Maudslay's inventions was his machine for punching +boiler-plates, by which the production of ironwork of many kinds was +greatly facilitated. This improvement originated in the contract +which he held for some years for supplying the Royal Navy with iron +plates for ships' tanks. The operations of shearing and punching had +before been very imperfectly done by hand, with great expenditure of +labour. To improve the style of the work and lessen the labour, +Maudslay invented the machine now in general use, by which the holes +punched in the iron plate are exactly equidistant, and the subsequent +operation of riveting is greatly facilitated. One of the results of +the improved method was the great saving which was at once effected +in the cost of preparing the plates to receive the rivets, the price +of which was reduced from seven shillings per tank to ninepence. He +continued to devote himself to the last to the improvement of the +lathe,--in his opinion the master-machine, the life and soul of +engine-turning, of which the planing, screw-cutting, and other +machines in common use, are but modifications. In one of the early +lathes which he contrived and made, the mandrill was nine inches in +diameter; it was driven by wheel-gearing like a crane motion, and +adapted to different speeds. Some of his friends, on first looking at +it, said he was going "too fast;" but he lived to see work projected +on so large a scale as to prove that his conceptions were just, and +that he had merely anticipated by a few years the mechanical progress +of his time. His large removable bar-lathe was a highly important +tool of the same kind. It was used to turn surfaces many feet in +diameter. While it could be used for boring wheels, or the side-rods +of marine engines, it could turn a roller or cylinder twice or three +times the diameter of its own centres from the ground-level, and +indeed could drive round work of any diameter that would clear the +roof of the shop. This was therefore an almost universal tool, +capable of very extensive uses. Indeed much of the work now executed +by means of special tools, such as the planing or slotting machine, +was then done in the lathe, which was used as a cutter-shaping +machine, fitted with various appliances according to the work. + +Maudslay's love of accuracy also led him from an early period to +study the subject of improved screw-cutting. The importance of this +department of mechanism can scarcely be overrated, the solidity and +permanency of most mechanical structures mainly depending on the +employment of the screw, at the same time that the parts can be +readily separated for renewal or repair. Any one can form an idea of +the importance of the screw as an element in mechanical construction +by examining say a steam-engine, and counting the number of screws +employed in holding it together. Previous to the time at which the +subject occupied the attention of our mechanic, the tools used for +making screws were of the most rude and inexact kind. The screws were +for the most part cut by hand: the small by filing, the larger by +chipping and filing. In consequence of the great difficulty of making +them, as few were used as possible; and cotters, cotterils, or +forelocks, were employed instead. Screws, however, were to a certain +extent indispensable; and each manufacturing establishment made them +after their own fashion. There was an utter want of uniformity. No +system was observed as to "pitch," i.e. the number of threads to the +inch, nor was any rule followed as to the form of those threads. +Every bolt and nut was sort of specialty in itself, and neither owed +nor admitted of any community with its neighbours. To such an extent +was this irregularity carried, that all bolts and their corresponding +nuts had to be marked as belonging to each other; and any mixing of +them together led to endless trouble, hopeless confusion, and +enormous expense. Indeed none but those who lived in the +comparatively early days of machine-manufacture can form an adequate +idea of the annoyance occasioned by the want of system in this branch +of detail, or duly appreciate the services rendered by Maudslay to +mechanical engineering by the practical measures which he was among +the first to introduce for its remedy. In his system of screw-cutting +machinery, his taps and dies, and screw-tackle generally, he laid the +foundations of all that has since been done in this essential branch +of machine-construction, in which he was so ably followed up by +several of the eminent mechanics brought up in his school, and more +especially by Joseph Clement and Joseph Whitworth. One of his +earliest self-acting screw lathes, moved by a guide-screw and wheels +after the plan followed by the latter engineer, cut screws of large +diameter and of any required pitch. As an illustration of its +completeness and accuracy, we may mention that by its means a screw +five feet in length, and two inches in diameter, was cut with fifty +threads to the inch; the nut to fit on to it being twelve inches +long, and containing six hundred threads. This screw was principally +used for dividing scales for astronomical purposes; and by its means +divisions were produced so minute that they could not be detected +without the aid of a magnifier. The screw, which was sent for +exhibition to the Society of Arts, is still carefully preserved +amongst the specimens of Maudslay's handicraft at the Lambeth Works, +and is a piece of delicate work which every skilled mechanic will +thoroughly appreciate. Yet the tool by which this fine piece of +turning was produced was not an exceptional tool, but was daily +employed in the ordinary work of the manufactory. + +Like every good workman who takes pride in his craft, he kept his +tools in first-rate order, clean, and tidily arranged, so that he +could lay his hand upon the thing he wanted at once, without loss of +time. They are still preserved in the state in which he left them, +and strikingly illustrate his love of order, "nattiness," and +dexterity. Mr. Nasmyth says of him that you could see the man's +character in whatever work he turned out; and as the connoisseur in +art will exclaim at sight of a picture, " That is Turner," or "That +is Stansfield," detecting the hand of the master in it, so the +experienced mechanician, at sight of one of his machines or engines, +will be equally ready to exclaim, "That is Maudslay;" for the +characteristic style of the master-mind is as clear to the +experienced eye in the case of the finished machine as the touches of +the artist's pencil are in the case of the finished picture. Every +mechanical contrivance that became the subject of his study came +forth from his hand and mind rearranged, simplified, and made new, +with the impress of his individuality stamped upon it. He at once +stripped the subject of all unnecessary complications; for he +possessed a wonderful faculty of KNOWING WHAT TO DO WITHOUT--the +result of his clearness of insight into mechanical adaptations, and +the accurate and well-defined notions he had formed of the precise +object to be accomplished. "Every member or separate machine in the +system of block-machinery says Mr. Nasmyth, "is full of Maudslay's +presence; and in that machinery, as constructed by him, is to be +found the parent of every engineering tool by the aid of which we are +now achieving such great things in mechanical construction. To the +tools of which Maudslay furnished the prototypes are we mainly +indebted for the perfection of our textile machinery, our +locomotives, our marine engines, and the various implements of art, +of agriculture, and of war. If any one who can enter into the details +of this subject will be at the pains to analyse, if I may so term it, +the machinery of our modern engineering workshops, he will find in +all of them the strongly-marked features of Maudslay's parent +machine, the slide rest and slide system--whether it be a planing +machine, a slotting machine, a slide-lathe, or any other of the +wonderful tools which are now enabling us to accomplish so much in +mechanism." + +One of the things in which Mr. Maudslay took just pride was in the +excellence of his work. In designing and executing it, his main +object was to do it in the best possible style and finish, altogether +irrespective of the probable pecuniary results. This he regarded in +the light of a duty he could not and would not evade, independent of +its being a good investment for securing a future reputation; and the +character which he thus obtained, although at times purchased at +great cost, eventually justified the soundness of his views. As the +eminent Mr. Penn, the head of the great engineering firm, is +accustomed to say, "I cannot afford to turn out second-rate work," so +Mr. Maudslay found both character and profit in striving after the +highest excellence in his productions. He was particular even in the +minutest details. Thus one of the points on which he +insisted--apparently a trivial matter, but in reality of considerable +importance in mechanical construction-- was the avoidance of sharp +interior angles in ironwork, whether wrought or cast; for he found +that in such interior angles cracks were apt to originate; and when +the article was a tool, the sharp angle was less pleasant to the hand +as well as to the eye. In the application of his favourite round or +hollow corner system--as, for instance, in the case of the points of +junction of the arms of a wheel with its centre and rim--he used to +illustrate its superiority by holding up his hand and pointing out +the nice rounded hollow at the junction of the fingers, or by +referring to the junction of the branches to the stem of a tree. +Hence he made a point of having all the angles of his machine +framework nicely rounded off on their exterior, and carefully +hollowed in their interior angles. In forging such articles he would +so shape his metal before bending that the result should be the right +hollow or rounded corner when bent; the anticipated external angle +falling into its proper place when the bar so shaped was brought to +its ultimate form. In all such matters of detail he was greatly +assisted by his early dexterity as a blacksmith; and he used to say +that to be a good smith you must be able to SEE in the bar of iron +the object proposed to be got out of it by the hammer or the tool, +just as the sculptor is supposed to see in the block of stone the +statue which he proposes to bring forth from it by his mind and his +chisel. + +Mr. Maudslay did not allow himself to forget his skill in the use of +the hammer, and to the last he took pleasure in handling it, +sometimes in the way of business, and often through sheer love of his +art. Mr Nasmyth says, "It was one of my duties, while acting as +assistant in his beautiful little workshop, to keep up a stock of +handy bars of lead which he had placed on a shelf under his +work-bench, which was of thick slate for the more ready making of his +usual illustrative sketches of machinery in chalk. His love of +iron-forging led him to take delight in forging the models of work to +be ultimately done in iron; and cold lead being of about the same +malleability as red-hot iron, furnished a convenient material for +illustrating the method to be adopted with the large work. I well +remember the smile of satisfaction that lit up his honest face when +he met with a good excuse for 'having a go at' one of the bars of +lead with hammer and anvil as if it were a bar of iron; and how, with +a few dexterous strokes, punchings of holes, and rounded notches, he +would give the rough bar or block its desired form. He always aimed +at working it out of the solid as much as possible, so as to avoid +the risk of any concealed defect, to which ironwork built up of +welded parts is so liable; and when he had thus cleverly finished his +model, he used forthwith to send for the foreman of smiths, and show +him how he was to instruct his men as to the proper forging of the +desired object." One of Mr. Maudslay's old workmen, when informing us +of the skilful manner in which he handled the file, said, "It was a +pleasure to see him handle a tool of any kind, but he was QUITE +SPLENDID with an eighteen-inch file!" The vice at which he worked was +constructed by himself, and it was perfect of its kind. It could be +turned round to any position on the bench; the jaws would turn from +the horizontal to the perpendicular or any other +position--upside-down if necessary--and they would open twelve inches +parallel. + +Mr. Nasmyth furnishes the following further recollections of Mr. +Maudslay, which will serve in some measure to illustrate his personal +character. "Henry Maudslay," he says, "lived in the days of +snuff-taking, which unhappily, as I think, has given way to the +cigar-smoking system. He enjoyed his occasional pinch very much. It +generally preceded the giving out of a new notion or suggestion for +an improvement or alteration of some job in hand. As with most of +those who enjoy their pinch, about three times as much was taken +between the fingers as was utilized by the nose, and the consequence +was that a large unconsumed surplus collected in the folds of the +master's waistcoat as he sat working at his bench. Sometimes a file, +or a tool, or some small piece of work would drop, and then it was my +duty to go down on my knees and fetch it up. On such occasions, while +waiting for the article, he would take the opportunity of pulling +down his waistcoat front, which had become disarranged by his +energetic working at the bench; and many a time have I come up with +the dropped article, half-blinded by the snuff jerked into my eyes +from off his waistcoat front. + +"All the while he was at work he would be narrating some incident in +his past life, or describing the progress of some new and important +undertaking, in illustrating which he would use the bit of chalk +ready to his hand upon the slate bench before him, which was thus in +almost constant use. One of the pleasures he indulged in while he sat +at work was Music, of which he was very fond,--more particularly of +melodies and airs which took a lasting hold on his mind. Hence he was +never without an assortment of musical boxes, some of which were of a +large size. One of these he would set agoing on his library table, +which was next to his workshop, and with the door kept open, he was +thus enabled to enjoy the music while he sat working at his bench. +Intimate friends would frequently call upon him and sit by the hour, +but though talking all the while he never dropped his work, but +continued employed on it with as much zeal as if he were only +beginning life. His old friend Sir Samuel Bentham was a frequent +caller in this way, as well as Sir Isambard Brunel while occupied +with his Thames Tunnel works* + [footnote... +Among the last works executed by the firm during Mr. Maudslay's +lifetime was the famous Shield employed by his friend Brunel in +carrying forward the excavation of the Thames Tunnel. He also +supplied the pumping-engines for the same great work, the completion +of which he did not live to see. + ...] + and Mr. Chantrey, who was accustomed to consult him about the +casting of his bronze statuary. Mr. Barton of the Royal Mint, and Mr. +Donkin the engineer, with whom Mr. Barton was associated in +ascertaining and devising a correct system of dividing the Standard +Yard, and many others, had like audience of Mr. Maudslay in his +little workshop, for friendly converse, for advice, or on affairs of +business. + +"It was a special and constant practice with him on a workman's +holiday, or on a Sunday morning, to take a walk through his workshops +when all was quiet, and then and there examine the various jobs in +hand. On such occasions he carried with him a piece of chalk, with +which, in a neat and very legible hand, he would record his remarks +in the most pithy and sometimes caustic terms. Any evidence of want +of correctness in setting things square, or in 'flat filing,' which +he held in high esteem, or untidiness in not sweeping down the bench +and laying the tools in order, was sure to have a record in chalk +made on the spot. If it was a mild case, the reproof was recorded in +gentle terms, simply to show that the master's eye was on the +workman; but where the case deserved hearty approbation or required +equally hearty reproof, the words employed were few, but went +straight to the mark. These chalk jottings on the bench were held in +the highest respect by the workmen themselves, whether they conveyed +praise or blame, as they were sure to be deserved; and when the men +next assembled, it soon became known all over the shop who had +received the honour or otherwise of one of the master's bench +memoranda in chalk." + +The vigilant, the critical, and yet withal the generous eye of the +master being over all his workmen, it will readily be understood how +Maudslay's works came to be regarded as a first-class school for +mechanical engineers. Every one felt that the quality of his +workmanship was fully understood; and, if he had the right stuff in +him, and was determined to advance, that his progress in skill would +be thoroughly appreciated. It is scarcely necessary to point out how +this feeling, pervading the establishment, must have operated, not +only in maintaining the quality of the work, but in improving the +character of the workmen. The results were felt in the increased +practical ability of a large number of artisans, some of whom +subsequently rose to the highest distinction. Indeed it may be said +that what Oxford and Cambridge are in letters, workshops such as +Maudslay's and Penn's are in mechanics. Nor can Oxford and Cambridge +men be prouder of the connection with their respective colleges than +mechanics such as Whitworth, Nasmyth, Roberts, Muir, and Lewis, are +of their connection with the school of Maudslay. For all these +distinguished engineers at one time or another formed part of his +working staff, and were trained to the exercise of their special +abilities under his own eye. The result has been a development of +mechanical ability the like of which perhaps is not to be found in +any age or country. + +Although Mr. Maudslay was an unceasing inventor, he troubled himself +very little about patenting his inventions. He considered that the +superiority of his tools and the excellence of his work were his +surest protection. Yet he had sometimes the annoyance of being +threatened with actions by persons who had patented the inventions +which he himself had made.* + [footnote... +His principal patent's were--two, taken out in 1805 and 1808, while +in Margaret Street, for printing calicoes (Nos. 2872 and 3117); one +taken out in 1806, in conjunction with Mr. Donkin, for lifting heavy +weights (2948); one taken out in 1807, while still in Margaret +Street, for improvements in the steam-engine, reducing its parts and +rendering it more compact and portable (3050); another, taken out in +conjunction with Robert Dickinson in 1812, for sweetening water and +other liquids (3538); and, lastly, a patent taken out in conjunction +"with Joshua Field in 1824 for preventing concentration of brine in +boilers (5021). + ...] +He was much beset by inventors, sometimes sadly out at elbows, but +always with a boundless fortune looming before them. To such as +applied to him for advice in a frank and candid spirit, he did not +hesitate to speak freely, and communicate the results of his great +experience in the most liberal manner; and to poor and deserving men +of this class he was often found as ready to help them with his purse +as with his still more valuable advice. He had a singular way of +estimating the abilities of those who thus called upon him about +their projects. The highest order of man was marked in his own mind +at l00 degrees; and by this ideal standard he measured others, +setting them down at 90 degrees, 80 degrees, and so on. A very +first-rate man he would set down at 95 degrees, but men of this rank +were exceedingly rare. After an interview with one of the applicants +to him for advice, he would say to his pupil Nasmyth, "Jem, I think +that man may be set down at 45 degrees, but he might be WORKED UP TO +60 degrees--a common enough way of speaking of the working of a +steam-engine, but a somewhat novel though by no means an inexpressive +method of estimating the powers of an individual. + +But while he had much toleration for modest and meritorious +inventors, he had a great dislike for secret-mongers,--schemers of +the close, cunning sort,--and usually made short work of them. He had +an almost equal aversion for what he called the "fiddle-faddle +inventors," with their omnibus patents, into which they packed every +possible thing that their noddles could imagine. "Only once or twice +in a century," said he, "does a great inventor appear, and yet here +we have a set of fellows each taking out as many patents as would +fill a cart,--some of them embodying not a single original idea, but +including in their specifications all manner of modifications of +well-known processes, as well as anticipating the arrangements which +may become practicable in the progress of mechanical improvement." +Many of these "patents" he regarded as mere pit-falls to catch the +unwary; and he spoke of such "inventors" as the pests of the +profession. + +The personal appearance of Henry Maudslay was in correspondence with +his character. He was of a commanding presence, for he stood full six +feet two inches in height, a massive and portly man. His face was +round, full, and lit up with good humour. A fine, large, and square +forehead, of the grand constructive order, dominated over all, and +his bright keen eye gave energy and life to his countenance. He was +thoroughly "jolly" and good-natured, yet full of force and character. +It was a positive delight to hear his cheerful, ringing laugh. He was +cordial in manner, and his frankness set everybody at their ease who +had occasion to meet him, even for the first time. No one could be +more faithful and consistent in his friendships, nor more firm in the +hour of adversity. In fine, Henry Maudslay was, as described by his +friend Mr. Nasmyth, the very beau ideal of an honest, upright, +straight-forward, hard-working, intelligent Englishman. + +A severe cold which he caught on his way home from one of his visits to +France, was the cause of his death, which occurred on the l4th of +February, 1831. The void which his decease caused was long and deeply +felt, not only by his family and his large circle of friends, but by +his workmen, who admired him for his industrial skill, and loved him +because of his invariably manly, generous, and upright conduct towards +them. He directed that he should be buried in Woolwich +parish-churchyard, where a cast-iron tomb, made to his own design, was +erected over his remains. He had ever a warm heart for Woolwich, where +he had been born and brought up. He often returned to it, sometimes to +carry his mother a share of his week's wages while she lived, and +afterwards to refresh himself with a sight of the neighbourhood with +which he had been so familiar when a boy. He liked its green common, +with the soldiers about it; Shooter's Hill, with its out-look over Kent +and down the valley of the Thames; the river busy with shipping, and +the royal craft loading and unloading their armaments at the dockyard +wharves. He liked the clangour of the Arsenal smithy where he had first +learned his art, and all the busy industry of the place. It was +natural, therefore, that, being proud of his early connection with +Woolwich, he should wish to lie there; and Woolwich, on its part, let +us add, has equal reason to he proud of Henry Maudslay. + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +JOSEPH CLEMENT. + +"It is almost impossible to over-estimate the importance of these +inventions. The Greeks would have elevated their authors among the +gods; nor will the enlightened judgment of modern times deny them the +place among their fellow-men which is so undeniably their due."-- +Edinburgh Review. + + +That Skill in mechanical contrivance is a matter of education and +training as well as of inborn faculty, is clear from the fact of so +many of our distinguished mechanics undergoing the same kind of +practical discipline, and perhaps still more so from the circumstance +of so many of them passing through the same workshops. Thus Maudslay +and Clement were trained in the workshops of Bramah; and Roberts, +Whitworth, Nasmyth, and others, were trained in those of Maudslay. + +Joseph Clement was born at Great Ashby in Westmoreland, in the year +1779. His father was a hand-loom weaver, and a man of remarkable +culture considering his humble station in life. He was an ardent +student of natural history, and possessed a much more complete +knowledge of several sub-branches of that science than was to have +been looked for in a common working-man. One of the departments which +he specially studied was Entomology. In his leisure hours he was +accustomed to traverse the country searching the hedge-bottoms for +beetles and other insects, of which he formed a remarkably complete +collection; and the capture of a rare specimen was quite an event in +his life. In order more deliberately to study the habits of the bee +tribe, he had a number of hives constructed for the purpose of +enabling him to watch their proceedings without leaving his work; and +the pursuit was a source of the greatest pleasure to him. He was a +lover of all dumb creatures; his cottage was haunted by birds which +flew in and out at his door, and some of them became so tame as to +hop up to him and feed out of his hand. "Old Clement" was also a bit +of a mechanic, and such of his leisure moments as he did not devote +to insect-hunting, were employed in working a lathe of his own +construction, which he used to turn his bobbing on, and also in +various kinds of amateur mechanics. + +His boy Joseph, like other poor men's sons, was early set to work. He +received very little education, and learnt only the merest rudiments +of reading and writing at the village school. The rest of his +education he gave to himself as he grew older. His father needed his +help at the loom, where he worked with him for some years; but, as +handloom weaving was gradually being driven out by improved +mechanism, the father prudently resolved to put his son to a better +trade. They have a saying in Cumberland that when the bairns reach a +certain age, they are thrown on to the house-rigg, and that those who +stick on are made thatchers of, while those who fall off are sent to +St. Bees to be made parsons of. Joseph must have been one of those +that stuck on--at all events his father decided to make him a +thatcher, afterwards a slater, and he worked at that trade for five +years, between eighteen and twenty-three. + +The son, like the father, had a strong liking for mechanics, and as +the slating trade did not keep him in regular employment, especially +in winter time, he had plenty of opportunity for following the bent +of his inclinations. He made a friend of the village blacksmith, +whose smithy he was accustomed to frequent, and there he learned to +work at the forge, to handle the hammer and file, and in a short time +to shoe horses with considerable expertness. A cousin of his named +Farer, a clock and watchmaker by trade, having returned to the +village from London, brought with him some books on mechanics, which +he lent to Joseph to read; and they kindled in him an ardent desire +to be a mechanic instead of a slater. He nevertheless continued to +maintain himself by the latter trade for some time longer, until his +skill had grown; and, by way of cultivating it, he determined, with +the aid of his friend the village blacksmith, to make a +turning-lathe. The two set to work, and the result was the production +of an article in every way superior to that made by Clement's father, +which was accordingly displaced to make room for the new machine. It +was found to work very satisfactorily, and by its means Joseph +proceeded to turn fifes, flutes, clarinets, and hautboys; for to his +other accomplishments he joined that of music, and could play upon +the instruments that he made. One of his most ambitious efforts was +the making of a pair of Northumberland bagpipes, which he finished to +his satisfaction, and performed upon to the great delight of the +villagers. To assist his father in his entomological studies, he even +contrived, with the aid of the descriptions given in the books +borrowed from his cousin the watchmaker, to make for him a +microscope, from which he proceeded to make a reflecting telescope, +which proved a very good instrument. At this early period (1804) he +also seems to have directed his attention to screw-making--a branch +of mechanics in which he afterwards became famous; and he proceeded +to make a pair of very satisfactory die-stocks, though it is said +that he had not before seen or even heard of such a contrivance for +making screws. + +So clever a workman was not likely to remain long a village slater. +Although the ingenious pieces of work which he turned out by his +lathe did not bring him in much money, he liked the occupation so +much better than slating that he was gradually giving up that trade. +His father urged him to stick to slating as "a safe thing;" but his +own mind was in favour of following his instinct to be a mechanic; +and at length he determined to leave his village and seek work in a +new line. He succeeded in finding employment in a small factory at +Kirby Stephen, a town some thirteen miles from Great Ashby, where he +worked at making power-looms. From an old statement of account +against his employer which we have seen, in his own handwriting, +dated the 6th September, 1805, it appears that his earnings at such +work as "fitting the first set of iron loames," "fitting up +shittles," and "making moddles," were 3s. 6d. a day; and he must, +during the same time, have lived with his employer, who charged him +as a set-off "14 weaks bord at 8s. per weak." He afterwards seems to +have worked at piece-work in partnership with one Andrew Gamble +supplying the materials as well as the workmanship for the looms and +shuttles. His employer, Mr. George Dickinson, also seems to have +bought his reflecting telescope from him for the sum of 12l. + +From Kirby Stephen Clement removed to Carlisle, where he was employed +by Forster and Sons during the next two years at the same description +of work; and he conducted himself, according; to their certificate on +his leaving their employment to proceed to Glasgow in 1807, "with +great sobriety and industry, entirely to their satisfaction." While +working at Glasgow as a turner, he took lessons in drawing from Peter +Nicholson, the well-known writer on carpentry--a highly ingenious +man. Nicholson happened to call at the shop at which Clement worked +in order to make a drawing of a power-loom; and Clement's expressions +of admiration at his expertness were so enthusiastic, that Nicholson, +pleased with the youth's praise, asked if he could be of service to +him in any way. Emboldened by the offer, Clement requested, as the +greatest favour he could confer upon him, to have the loan of the +drawing he had just made, in order that he might copy it. The request +was at once complied with; and Clement, though very poor at the time, +and scarcely able to buy candle for the long winter evenings, sat up +late every night until he had finished it. Though the first drawing +he had ever made, he handed it back to Nicholson instead of the +original, and at first the draughtsman did not recognise that the +drawing was not his own. When Clement told him that it was only the +copy, Nicholson's brief but emphatic praise was --- "Young man, +YOU'LL DO!" Proud to have such a pupil, Nicholson generously offered +to give him gratuitous lessons in drawing, which were thankfully +accepted; and Clement, working at nights with great ardour, soon made +rapid progress, and became an expert draughtsman. + +Trade being very slack in Glasgow at the time, Clement, after about a +year's stay in the place, accepted a situation with Messrs. Leys, +Masson, and Co., of Aberdeen, with whom he began at a guinea and a +half a week, from which he gradually rose to two guineas, and +ultimately to three guineas. His principal work consisted in +designing and making power-looms for his employers, and fitting them +up in different parts of the country. He continued to devote himself +to the study of practical mechanics, and made many improvements in +the tools with which he worked. While at Glasgow he had made an +improved pair of die-stocks for screws; and, at Aberdeen, he made a +turning-lathe with a sliding mandrill and guide-screws, for cutting +screws, furnished also with the means for correcting guide-screws. In +the same machine he introduced a small slide rest, into which he +fixed the tool for cutting the screws,--having never before seen a +slide rest, though it is very probable he may have heard of what +Maudslay had already done in the same direction. Clement continued +during this period of his life an industrious self-cultivator, +occupying most of his spare hours in mechanical and landscape +drawing, and in various studies. Among the papers left behind him we +find a ticket to a course of instruction on Natural Philosophy given +by Professor Copland in the Marischal College at Aberdeen, which +Clement attended in the session of 1812-13; and we do not doubt that +our mechanic was among the most diligent of his pupils. Towards the +end of 1813, after saving about 100L. out of his wages, Clement +resolved to proceed to London for the purpose of improving himself in +his trade and pushing his way in the world. The coach by which he +travelled set him down in Snow Hill, Holborn; and his first thought +was of finding work. He had no friend in town to consult on the +matter, so he made inquiry of the coach-guard whether he knew of any +person in the mechanical line in that neighbourhood. The guard said, +"Yes; there was Alexander Galloway's show shop, just round the +corner, and he employed a large number of hands." Running round the +corner, Clement looked in at Galloway's window, through which he saw +some lathes and other articles used in machine shops. Next morning he +called upon the owner of the shop to ask employment. "What can you +do?" asked Galloway. "I can work at the forge," said Clement. +"Anything else?" "I can turn." "What else?" "I can draw." "What!" +said Galloway, "can you draw? Then I will engage you." A man who +could draw or work to a drawing in those days was regarded as a +superior sort of mechanic. Though Galloway was one of the leading +tradesmen of his time, and had excellent opportunities for +advancement, he missed them all. As Clement afterwards said of him, +"He was only a mouthing common-council man, the height of whose +ambition was to be an alderman;" and, like most corporation +celebrities, he held a low rank in his own business. He very rarely +went into his workshops to superintend or direct his workmen, leaving +this to his foremen--a sufficient indication of the causes of his +failure as a mechanic.* + [footnote... +On one occasion Galloway had a cast-iron roof made for his workshop, +so flat and so independent of ties that the wonder was that it should +have stood an hour. One day Peter Keir, an engineer much employed by +the government--a clever man, though some what eccentric--was taken +into the shop by Galloway to admire the new roof. Keir, on glancing +up at it, immediately exclaimed, "Come outside, and let us speak +about it there!" All that he could say to Galloway respecting the +unsoundness of its construction was of no avail. The fact was that, +however Keir might argue about its not being able to stand, there it +was actually standing, and that was enough for Galloway. Keir went +home, his mind filled with Galloway's most unprincipled roof. "If +that stands," said he to himself, "all that I have been learning and +doing for thirty years has been wrong." That night he could not sleep +for thinking about it. In the morning he strolled up Primrose Hill, +and returned home still muttering to himself about "that roof." +"What, said his wife to him, "are you thinking of Galloway's roof?" +"Yes, said he. "Then you have seen the papers?" "No -- what about +them?" "Galloway's roof has fallen in this morning, and killed eight +or ten of the men!" Keir immediately went to bed, and slept soundly +till next morning. + ...] + +On entering Galloway's shop, Clement was first employed in working at +the lathe; but finding the tools so bad that it was impossible to +execute satisfactory work with them, he at once went to the forge, +and began making a new set of tools for himself. The other men, to +whom such a proceeding was entirely new, came round him to observe +his operations, and they were much struck with his manual dexterity. +The tools made, he proceeded to use them, displaying what seemed to +the other workmen an unusual degree of energy and intelligence; and +some of the old hands did not hesitate already to pronounce Clement +to be the best mechanic in the shop. When Saturday night came round, +the other men were curious to know what wages Galloway would allow +the new hand; and when he had been paid, they asked him. "A guinea," +was the reply. "A guinea! Why, you are worth two if you are worth a +shilling," said an old man who came out of the rank--an excellent +mechanic, who, though comparatively worthless through his devotion to +drink, knew Clement's money value to his employer better than any man +there; and he added, "Wait for a week or two, and if you are not +better paid than this, I can tell you of a master who will give you a +fairer wage." Several Saturdays came round, but no advance was made +on the guinea a week; and then the old workman recommended Clement to +offer himself to Bramah at Pimlico, who was always on the look out +for first-rate mechanics. + +Clement acted on the advice, and took with him some of his drawings, +at sight of which Bramah immediately engaged him for a month; and at +the end of that time he had given so much satisfaction, that it was +agreed he should continue for three months longer at two guineas a +week. Clement was placed in charge of the tools of the shop, and he +showed himself so apt at introducing improvements in them, as well as +in organizing the work with a view to despatch and economy, that at +the end of the term Bramah made him a handsome present, adding, "if I +had secured your services five years since, I would now have been a +richer man by many thousands of pounds." A formal agreement for a +term of five years was then entered into between Bramah and Clement, +dated the 1st of April, 1814, by which the latter undertook to fill +the office of chief-draughtsman and superintendent of the Pimlico +Works, in consideration of a salary of three guineas a week, with an +advance of four shillings a week in each succeeding year of the +engagement. This arrangement proved of mutual advantage to both. +Clement devoted himself with increased zeal to the improvement of the +mechanical arrangements of the concern, exhibiting his ingenuity in +many ways, and taking; a genuine pride in upholding the character of +his master for turning out first-class work. + +On the death of Bramah, his sons returned from college and entered +into possession of the business. They found Clement the ruling mind +there and grew jealous of him to such an extent that his situation +became uncomfortable; and by mutual consent he was allowed to leave +before the expiry of his term of agreement. He had no difficulty in +finding employment; and was at once taken on as chief draughtsman at +Maudslay and Field's where he was of much assistance in proportioning +the early marine engines, for the manufacture of which that firm were +becoming celebrated. After a short time, he became desirous of +beginning business on his own account as a mechanical engineer. He +was encouraged to do this by the Duke of Northumberland, who, being a +great lover of mechanics and himself a capital turner, used often to +visit Maudslay's, and thus became acquainted with Clement, whose +expertness as a draughtsman and mechanic he greatly admired. Being a +man of frugal and sober habits, always keeping his expenditure very +considerably within his income, Clement had been enabled to +accumulate about 500L., which he thought would be enough for his +purpose; and he accordingly proceeded, in 1817, to take a small +workshop in Prospect Place, Newington Butts, where he began business +as a mechanical draughtsman and manufacturer of small machinery +requiring first-class workmanship. + +From the time when he took his first gratuitous lessons in drawing +from Peter Nicholson, at Glasgow, in 1807, he had been steadily +improving in this art, the knowledge of which is indispensable to +whoever aspires to eminence as a mechanical engineer,--until by +general consent Clement was confessed to stand unrivalled as a +draughtsman. Some of the very best drawings contained in the +Transactions of the Society of Arts, from the year 1817 +downwards,--especially those requiring the delineation of any +unusually elaborate piece of machinery,--proceeded from the hand of +Clement. In some of these, he reached a degree of truth in mechanical +perspective which has never been surpassed.* + [footnote... +See more particularly The Transactions of the Society for the +Encouragement of Arts, vol. xxxiii. (l8l7), at pp. 74,l57,l60,175,208 +(an admirable drawing; of Mr. James Allen's Theodolite); vol. xxxvi. +(1818), pp. 28,176 (a series of remarkable illustrations of Mr. +Clement's own invention of an Instrument for Drawing Ellipses); vol. +xliii. (1825), containing an illustration of the Drawing Table +invented by him for large drawings; vol. xlvi. (1828), containing a +series of elaborate illustrations of his Prize Turning Lathe; and +xlviii. 1829, containing illustrations of his Self-adjusting Double +Driver Centre Chuck. + ...] +To facilitate his labours, he invented an extremely ingenious +instrument, by means of which ellipses of all proportions, as well as +circles and right lines, might be geometrically drawn on paper or on +copper. He took his idea of this instrument from the trammel used by +carpenters for drawing imperfect ellipses; and when he had succeeded +in avoiding the crossing of the points, he proceeded to invent the +straight-line motion. For this invention the Society of Arts awarded +him their gold medal in 1818. Some years later, he submitted to the +same Society his invention of a stand for drawings of large size. He +had experienced considerable difficulty in making such drawings, and +with his accustomed readiness to overcome obstacles, he forthwith set +to work and brought out his new drawing-table. + +As with many other original-minded mechanics, invention became a +habit with him, and by study and labour he rarely failed in attaining +the object which he had bent his mind upon accomplishing. Indeed, +nothing pleased him better than to have what he called "a tough job;" +as it stimulated his inventive faculty, in the exercise of which he +took the highest pleasure. Hence mechanical schemers of all kinds +were accustomed to resort to Clement for help when they had found an +idea which they desired to embody in a machine. If there was any +value in their idea, none could be more ready than he to recognise +its merit, and to work it into shape; but if worthless, he spoke out +his mind at once, dissuading the projector from wasting upon it +further labour or expense. + +One of the important branches of practical mechanics to which Clement +continued through life to devote himself, was the improvement of +self-acting tools, more especially of the slide-lathe. He introduced +various improvements in its construction and arrangement, until in +his hands it became as nearly perfect as it was possible to be. In +1818, he furnished the lathe with a slide rest twenty-two inches +long, for the purpose of cutting screws, provided with the means of +self-correction; and some years later, in 1827, the Society of Arts +awarded him their gold Isis medal for his improved turning-lathe, +which embodied many ingenious contrivances calculated to increase its +precision and accuracy in large surface-turning. + +The beautiful arrangements embodied in Mr. Clement's improved lathe +can with difficulty be described in words; but its ingenuity may be +inferred from a brief statement of the defects which it was invented +to remedy, and which it successfully overcame. When the mandrill of a +lathe, having a metal plate fixed to it, turns round with a uniform +motion, and the slide rest which carries the cutter is moving from +the circumference of the work to the centre, it will be obvious that +the quantity of metal passing over the edge of the cutter at each +revolution, and therefore at equal intervals of time, is continually +diminishing, in exact proportion to the spiral line described by the +cutter on the face of the work. But in turning metal plates it is +found very in expedient to increase the speed of the work beyond a +certain quantity; for when this happens, and the tool passes the work +at too great a velocity, it heats, softens, and is ground away, the +edge of the cutter becomes dull, and the surface of the plate is +indented and burnished, instead of being turned. Hence loss of time +on the part of the workman, and diminished work on the part of the +tool, results which, considering the wages of the one and the capital +expended on the construction of the other, are of no small +importance; for the prime objects of all improvement of tools are, +economy of time and economy of capital--to minimize labour and cost, +and maximize result. + +The defect to which we have referred was almost the only remaining +imperfection in the lathe, and Mr. Clement overcame it by making the +machine self-regulating; so that, whatever might be the situation of +the cutter, equal quantities of metal should pass over it in equal +times,--the speed at the centre not exceeding that suited to the work +at the circumference,--while the workman was enabled to convert the +varying rate of the mandrill into a uniform one whenever he chose. +Thus the expedients of wheels, riggers, and drums, of different +diameters, by which it had been endeavoured to alter the speed of the +lathe-mandrill, according to the hardness of the metal and the +diameter of the thing to be turned, were effectually disposed of. +These, though answering very well where cylinders of equal diameter +had to be bored, and a uniform motion was all that was required, were +found very inefficient where a Plane surface had to be turned; and it +was in such cases that Mr. Clement's lathe was found so valuable. By +its means surfaces of unrivalled correctness were produced, and the +slide-lathe, so improved, became recognised and adopted as the most +accurate and extensively applicable of all machine-tools. + +The year after Mr. Clement brought out his improved turning-lathe, he +added to it his self-adjusting double driving centre-chuck, for which +the Society of Arts awarded him their silver medal in 1828. In +introducing this invention to the notice of the Society, Mr. Clement +said, "Although I have been in the habit of turning and making +turning-lathes and other machinery for upwards of thirty-five years, +and have examined the best turning-lathes in the principal +manufactories throughout Great Britain, I find it universally +regretted by all practical men that they cannot turn anything +perfectly true between the centres of the lathe." It was found by +experience, that there was a degree of eccentricity, and consequently +of imperfection, in the figure of any long cylinder turned while +suspended between the centres of the lathe, and made to revolve by +the action of a single driver. Under such circumstances the pressure +of the tool tended to force the work out of the right line and to +distribute the strain between the driver and the adjacent centre, so +that one end of the cylinder became eccentric with respect to the +other. By Mr. Clement's invention of the two-armed driver, which was +self-adjusting, the strain was taken from the centre and divided +between the two arms, which being equidistant from the centre, +effectually corrected all eccentricity in the work. This invention +was found of great importance in ensuring the true turning of large +machinery, which before had been found a matter of considerable +difficulty. + +In the same year (1828) Mr. Clement began the making of fluted taps +and dies, and he established a mechanical practice with reference to +the pitch of the screw, which proved of the greatest importance in +the economics of manufacture. Before his time, each mechanical +engineer adopted a thread of his own; so that when a piece of work +came under repair, the screw-hob had usually to be drilled out, and a +new thread was introduced according to the usage which prevailed in +the shop in which the work was executed. Mr. Clement saw a great +waste of labour in this practice, and he promulgated the idea that +every screw of a particular length ought to be furnished with its +appointed number of threads of a settled pitch. Taking the inch as +the basis of his calculations, he determined the number of threads in +each case; and the practice thus initiated by him, recommended as it +was by convenience and economy, was very shortly adopted throughout +the trade. It may be mentioned that one of Clement's ablest +journeymen, Mr. Whitworth, has, since his time, been mainly +instrumental in establishing the settled practice; and Whitworth's +thread (initiated by Clement) has become recognised throughout the +mechanical world. To carry out his idea, Clement invented his +screw-engine lathe, with gearing, mandrill, and sliding-table +wheel-work, by means of which he first cut the inside screw-tools +from the left-handed hobs--the reverse mode having before been +adopted,--while in shaping machines he was the first to use the +revolving cutter attached to the slide rest. Then, in 1828, he fluted +the taps for the first time with a revolving cutter,--other makers +having up to that time only notched them. Among his other inventions +in screws may be mentioned his headless tap, which, according to Mr. +Nasmyth, is so valuable an invention, that, "if he had done nothing +else, it ought to immortalize him among mechanics. It passed right +through the hole to be tapped, and was thus enabled to do the duty of +three ordinary screws." By these improvements much greater precision +was secured in the manufacture of tools and machinery, accompanied by +a greatly reduced cost of production; the results of which are felt +to this day. + +Another of Mr. Clement's ingenious inventions was his Planing +Machine, by means of which metal plates of large dimensions were +planed with perfect truth and finished with beautiful accuracy. There +is perhaps scarcely a machine about which there has been more +controversy than this; and we do not pretend to be able to determine +the respective merits of the many able mechanics who have had a hand +in its invention. It is exceedingly probable that others besides +Clement worked out the problem in their own way, by independent +methods; and this is confirmed by the circumstance that though the +results achieved by the respective inventors were the same, the +methods employed by them were in many respects different. As regards +Clement, we find that previous to the year 1820 he had a machine in +regular use for planing the triangular bars of lathes and the sides +of weaving-looms. This instrument was found so useful and so +economical in its working, that Clement proceeded to elaborate a +planing machine of a more complete kind, which he finished and set to +work in the year 1825. He prepared no model of it, but made it direct +from the working drawings; and it was so nicely constructed, that +when put together it went without a hitch, and has continued steadily +working for more than thirty years down to the present day. + +Clement took out no patent for his invention, relying for protection +mainly on his own and his workmen's skill in using it. We therefore +find no specification of his machine at the Patent Office, as in the +case of most other capital inventions; but a very complete account of +it is to be found in the Transactions of the Society of Arts for +1832, as described by Mr. Varley. The practical value of the Planing +Machine induced the Society to apply to Mr. Clement for liberty to +publish a full description of it; and Mr. Varley's paper was the +result.* + [footnote... +Transactions of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, vol. xlix. +p.157. + ...] +It may be briefly stated that this engineer's plane differs greatly +from the carpenter's plane, the cutter of which is only allowed to +project so far as to admit of a thin shaving to be sliced off,--the +plane working flat in proportion to the width of the tool, and its +length and straightness preventing the cutter from descending into +any hollows in the wood. The engineer's plane more resembles the +turning-lathe, of which indeed it is but a modification, working up +on the same principle, on flat surfaces. The tools or cutters in +Clement's machine were similar to those used in the lathe, varying in +like manner, but performing their work in right lines,--the tool +being stationary and the work moving under it, the tool only +travelling when making lateral cuts. To save time two cutters were +mounted, one to cut the work while going, the other while returning, +both being so arranged and held as to be presented to the work in the +firmest manner, and with the least possible friction. The bed of the +machine, on which the work was laid, passed under the cutters on +perfectly true rollers or wheels, lodged and held in their bearings +as accurately as the best mandrill could be, and having set-screws +acting against their ends totally preventing all end-motion. The +machine was bedded on a massive and solid foundation of masonry in +heavy blocks, the support at all points being so complete as +effectually to destroy all tendency to vibration, with the object of +securing full, round, and quiet cuts. The rollers on which the +planing-machine travelled were so true, that Clement himself used to +say of them, "If you were to put but a paper shaving under one of the +rollers, it would at once stop all the rest." Nor was this any +exaggeration--the entire mechanism, notwithstanding its great size, +being as true and accurate as that of a watch. + +By an ingenious adaptation of the apparatus, which will also be found +described in the Society of Arts paper, the planing machine might be +fitted with a lathe-bed, either to hold two centres, or a head with a +suitable mandrill. When so fitted, the machine was enabled to do the +work of a turning-lathe, though in a different way, cutting cylinders +or cones in their longitudinal direction perfectly straight, as well +as solids or prisms of any angle, either by the longitudinal or +lateral motion of the cutter; whilst by making the work revolve, it +might be turned as in any other lathe. This ingenious machine, as +contrived by Mr. Clement, therefore represented a complete union of +the turning-lathe with the planing machine and dividing engine, by +which turning of the most complicated kind might readily be executed. +For ten years after it was set in motion, Clement's was the only +machine of the sort available for planing large work; and being +consequently very much in request, it was often kept going night and +day,--the earnings by the planing machine alone during that time +forming the principal income of its inventor. As it took in a piece +of work six feet square, and as his charge for planing was +three-halfpence the square inch, or eighteen shillings the square +foot, he could thus earn by his machine alone some ten pounds for +every day's work of twelve hours. We may add that since planing +machines in various forms have become common in mechanical workshops, +the cost of planing does not amount to more than three-halfpence the +square foot. + +The excellence of Mr. Clement's tools, and his well-known skill in +designing and executing work requiring unusual accuracy and finish, +led to his being employed by Mr. Babbage to make his celebrated +Calculating or Difference Engine. The contrivance of a machine that +should work out complicated sums in arithmetic with perfect +precision, was, as may readily be imagined, one of the most difficult +feats of the mechanical intellect. To do this was in an especial +sense to stamp matter with the impress of mind, and render it +subservient to the highest thinking faculty. Attempts had been made +at an early period to perform arithmetical calculations by mechanical +aids more rapidly and precisely than it was possible to do by the +operations of the individual mind. The preparation of arithmetical +tables of high numbers involved a vast deal of labour, and even with +the greatest care errors were unavoidable and numerous. Thus in a +multipltcation-table prepared by a man so eminent as Dr. Hutton for +the Board of Longitude, no fewer than forty errors were discovered in +a single page taken at random. In the tables of the Nautical Almanac, +where the greatest possible precision was desirable and necessary, +more than five hundred errors were detected by one person; and the +Tables of the Board of Longitude were found equally incorrect. But +such errors were impossible to be avoided so long as the ordinary +modes of calculating, transcribing, and printing continued in use. + +The earliest and simplest form of calculating apparatus was that +employed by the schoolboys of ancient Greece, called the Abacus; +consisting of a smooth board with a narrow rim, on which they were +taught to compute by means of progressive rows of pebbles, bits of +bone or ivory, or pieces of silver coin, used as counters. The same +board, strewn over with sand, was used for teaching the rudiments of +writing and the principles of geometry. The Romans subsequently +adopted the Abacus, dividing it by means of perpendicular lines or +bars, and from the designation of calculus which they gave to each +pebble or counter employed on the board, we have derived our English +word to calculate. The same instrument continued to be employed +during the middle ages, and the table used by the English Court of +Exchequer was but a modified form of the Greek Abacus, the chequered +lines across it giving the designation to the Court, which still +survives. Tallies, from the French word tailler to cut, were another +of the mechanical methods employed to record computations, though in +a very rude way. Step by step improvements were made; the most +important being that invented by Napier of Merchiston, the inventor +of logarithms, commonly called Napier's bones, consisting of a number +of rods divided into ten equal squares and numbered, so that the +whole when placed together formed the common multiplication table. By +these means various operations in multiplication and division were +performed. Sir Samuel Morland, Gunter, and Lamb introduced other +contrivances, applicable to trigonometry; Gunter's scale being still +in common use. The calculating machines of Gersten and Pascal were of +a different kind, working out arithmetical calculations by means of +trains of wheels and other arrangements; and that contrived by Lord +Stanhope for the purpose of verifying his calculations with respect +to the National Debt was of like character. But none of these will +bear for a moment to be compared with the machine designed by Mr. +Babbage for performing arithmetical calculations and mathematical +analyses, as well as for recording the calculations when made, +thereby getting rid entirely of individual error in the operations of +calculation, transcription, and printing. + +The French government, in their desire to promote the extension of +the decimal system, had ordered the construction of logarithmical +tables of vast extent; but the great labour and expense involved in +the undertaking prevented the design from being carried out. It was +reserved for Mr. Babbage to develope the idea by means of a machine +which he called the Difference Engine. This machine is of so +complicated a character that it would be impossible for us to give +any intelligible description of it in words . Although Dr. Lardner +was unrivalled in the art of describing mechanism, he occupied +twenty-five pages of the 'Edinburgh Review' (vol.59) in endeavouring +to describe its action, and there were several features in it which +he gave up as hopeless. Some parts of the apparatus and modes of +action are indeed extraordinary and perhaps none more so than that +for ensuring accuracy in the calculated results,--the machine +actually correcting itself, and rubbing itself back into accuracy, +when the disposition to err occurs, by the friction of the adjacent +machinery! When an error is made, the wheels become locked and refuse +to proceed; thus the machine must go rightly or not at all,--an +arrangement as nearly resembling volition as anything that brass and +steel are likely to accomplish. + +This intricate subject was taken up by Mr. Babbage in 1821, when he +undertook to superintend for the British government the construction +of a machine for calculating and printing mathematical and +astronomical tables. The model first constructed to illustrate the +nature of his invention produced figures at the rate of 44 a minute. +In 1823 the Royal Society was requested to report upon the invention, +and after full inquiry the committee recommended it as one highly +deserving of public encouragement. A sum of 1500L. was then placed at +Mr. Babbage's disposal by the Lords of the Treasury for the purpose +of enabling him to perfect his invention. It was at this time that he +engaged Mr. Clement as draughtsman and mechanic to embody his ideas +in a working machine. Numerous tools were expressly contrived by the +latter for executing the several parts, and workmen were specially +educated for the purpose of using them. Some idea of the elaborate +character of the drawings may be formed from the fact that those +required for the calculating machinery alone--not to mention the +printing machinery, which was almost equally elaborate--covered not +less than four hundred square feet of surface! The cost of executing +the calculating machine was of course very great, and the progress of +the work was necessarily slow. The consequence was that the +government first became impatient, and then began to grumble at the +expense. At the end of seven years the engineer's bills alone were +found to amount to nearly 7200L., and Mr. Babbage's costs out of +pocket to 7000L. more. In order to make more satisfactory progress, +it was determined to remove the works to the neighbourhood of Mr. +Babbage's own residence; but as Clement's claims for conducting the +operations in the new premises were thought exorbitant, and as he +himself considered that the work did not yield him the average profit +of ordinary employment in his own trade, he eventually withdrew from +the enterprise, taking with him the tools which he had constructed +for executing the machine. The government also shortly after withdrew +from it, and from that time the scheme was suspended, the Calculating +Engine remaining a beautiful but unfinished fragment of a great work. +Though originally intended to go as far as twenty figures, it was +only completed to the extent of being capable of calculating to the +depth of five figures, and two orders of differences; and only a +small part of the proposed printing machinery was ever made. The +engine was placed in the museum of King's College in 1843, enclosed +in a glass case, until the year 1862, when it was removed for a time +to the Great Exhibition, where it formed perhaps the most remarkable +and beautifully executed piece of mechanism the combined result of +intellectual and mechanical contrivance--in the entire collection.* + [footnote... +A complete account of the calculating machine, as well as of an +analytical engine afterwards contrived by Mr. Babbage, of still +greater power than the other, will be found in the Bibliotheque +Universelle de Geneve, of which a translation into English, with +copious original notes, by the late Lady Lovelace, daughter of Lord +Byron, was published in the 3rd vol. of Taylor's Scientific Memoirs +(London, 1843). A history of the machine, and of the circumstances +connected with its construction, will also be found in Weld's History +of the Royal Society, vol. ii. 369-391. It remains to be added, that +the perusal by Messrs. Scheutz of Stockholm of Dr. Lardner's account +of Mr. Babbage's engine in the Edinburgh Review, led those clever +mechanics to enter upon the scheme of constructing and completing it, +and the result is, that their machine not only calculates the tables, +but prints the results. It took them nearly twenty years to perfect +it, but when completed the machine seemed to be almost capable of +thinking. The original was exhibited at the Paris Exhibition of 1855. +A copy of it has since been secured by the English government at a +cost of 1200L., and it is now busily employed at Somerset House in +working out annuity and other tables for the Registrar-General. The +copy was constructed, with several admirable improvements, by the +Messrs. Donkin, the well-known mechanical engineers, after the +working drawings of the Messrs. Scheutz. + ...] + +Clement was on various other occasions invited to undertake work +requiring extra skill, which other mechanics were unwilling or unable +to execute. He was thus always full of employment, never being under +the necessity of canvassing for customers. He was almost constantly +in his workshop, in which he took great pride. His dwelling was over +the office in the yard, and it was with difficulty he could be +induced to leave the premises. On one occasion Mr. Brunel of the +Great Western Railway called upon him to ask if he could supply him +with a superior steam-whistle for his locomotives, the whistles which +they were using giving forth very little sound. Clement examined the +specimen brought by Brunel, and pronounced it to be "mere +tallow-chandler's work." He undertook to supply a proper article, and +after his usual fashion he proceeded to contrive a machine or tool +for the express purpose of making steam-whistles. They were made and +supplied, and when mounted on the locomotive the effect was indeed +"screaming." They were heard miles off, and Brunel, delighted, +ordered a hundred. But when the bill came in, it was found that the +charge made for them was very high--as much as 40L. the set. The +company demurred at the price,--Brunel declaring it to be six times +more than the price they had before been paying. "That may be;" +rejoined Clement, "but mine are more than six times better. You +ordered a first-rate article, and you must be content to pay for it." +The matter was referred to an arbitrator, who awarded the full sum +claimed. Mr. Weld mentions a similar case of an order which Clement +received from America to make a large screw of given dimensions "in +the best possible manner," and he accordingly proceeded to make one +with the greatest mathematical accuracy. But his bill amounted to +some hundreds of pounds, which completely staggered the American, who +did not calculate on having to pay more than 20L. at the utmost for +the screw. The matter was, however, referred to arbitrators, who gave +their decision, as in the former case, in favour of the mechanic.* + [footnote... +History of the Royal Society, ii. 374. + ...] + +One of the last works which Clement executed as a matter of pleasure, +was the building of an organ for his own use. It will be remembered +that when working as a slater at Great Ashby, he had made flutes and +clarinets, and now in his old age he determined to try his skill at +making an organ--in his opinion the king of musical instruments. The +building of it became his hobby, and his greatest delight was in +superintending its progress. It cost him about two thousand pounds in +labour alone, but he lived to finish it, and we have been informed +that it was pronounced a very excellent instrument. + +Clement was a heavy-browed man, without any polish of manner or +speech; for to the last he continued to use his strong Westmoreland +dialect. He was not educated in a literary sense; for he read but +little, and could write with difficulty. He was eminently a mechanic, +and had achieved his exquisite skill by observation, experience, and +reflection. His head was a complete repertory of inventions, on which +he was constantly drawing for the improvement of mechanical practice. +Though he had never more than thirty workmen in his factory, they +were all of the first class; and the example which Clement set before +them of extreme carefulness and accuracy in execution rendered his +shop one of the best schools of its time for the training of +thoroughly accomplished mechanics. Mr. Clement died in 1844, in his +sixty-fifth year; after which his works were carried on by Mr. +Wilkinson, one of his nephews; and his planing machine still +continues in useful work. + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +FOX OF DERBY - MURRAY OF LEEDS - ROBERTS AND WHITWORTH OF MANCHESTER. + +"Founders and senators of states and cities, lawgivers, extirpers of +tyrants, fathers of the people, and other eminent persons in civil +government, were honoured but with titles of Worthies or demi-gods; +whereas, such as were inventors and authors of new arts, endowments, +and commodities towards man's life, were ever consecrated amongst the +gods themselves."--BACON, Advancement of Learning. + + +While such were the advances made in the arts of tool-making and +engine-construction through the labours of Bramah, Maudslay, and +Clement, there were other mechanics of almost equal eminence who +flourished about the same time and subsequently in several of the +northern manufacturing towns. Among these may be mentioned James Fox +of Derby; Matthew Murray and Peter Fairbairn of Leeds; Richard +Roberts, Joseph Whitworth, James Nasmyth, and William Fairbairn of +Manchester; to all of whom the manufacturing industry of Great +Britain stands in the highest degree indebted. + +James Fox, the founder of the Derby firm of mechanical engineers, was +originally a butler in the service of the Rev. Thomas Gisborne, of +Foxhall Lodge, Staffordshire. Though a situation of this kind might +not seem by any means favourable for the display of mechanical +ability, yet the butler's instinct for handicraft was so strong that +it could not be repressed; and his master not only encouraged him in +the handling of tools in his leisure hours, but had so genuine an +admiration of his skill as well as his excellent qualities of +character, that he eventually furnished him with the means of +beginning business on his own account. + +The growth and extension of the cotton, silk, and lace trades, in the +neighbourhood of Derby, furnished Fox with sufficient opportunities +for the exercise of his mechanical skill; and he soon found ample +scope for its employment. His lace machinery became celebrated, and +he supplied it largely to the neighbouring town of Nottingham; he +also obtained considerable employment from the great firms of +Arkwright and Strutt-- the founders of the modem cotton manufacture. +Mr. Fox also became celebrated for his lathes, which were of +excellent quality, still maintaining their high reputation; and +besides making largely for the supply of the home demand, he exported +much machinery abroad, to France, Russia, and the Mauritius. + +The present Messrs. Fox of Derby, who continue to carry on the +business of the firm, claim for their grandfather, its founder, that +he made the first planing machine in 1814,* + [footnote... +Engineer, Oct. 10th, 1862. + ...] +and they add that the original article continued in use until quite +recently. We have been furnished by Samuel Hall, formerly a workman +at the Messrs. Fox's, with the following description of the +machine: -- " It was essentially the same in principle as the planing +machine now in general use, although differing in detail. It had a +self-acting ratchet motion for moving the slides of a compound slide +rest, and a self-acting reversing tackle, consisting of three bevel +wheels, one a stud, one loose on the driving shaft, and another on a +socket, with a pinion on the opposite end of the driving shaft +running on the socket. The other end was the place for the driving +pulley. A clutch box was placed between the two opposite wheels, +which was made to slide on a feather, so that by means of another +shaft containing levers and a tumbling ball, the box on reversing was +carried from one bevel wheel to the opposite one." The same James Fox +is also said at a very early period to have invented a screw-cutting +machine, an engine for accurately dividing and cutting the teeth of +wheels, and a self-acting lathe. But the evidence as to the dates at +which these several inventions are said to have been made is so +conflicting that it is impossible to decide with whom the merit of +making them really rests. The same idea is found floating at the same +time in many minds, the like necessity pressing upon all, and the +process of invention takes place in like manner: hence the +contemporaneousness of so many inventions, and the disputes that +arise respecting them, as described in a previous chapter. + +There are still other claimants for the merit of having invented the +planing machine; among whom may be mentioned more particularly +Matthew Murray of Leeds, and Richard Roberts of Manchester. We are +informed by Mr. March, the present mayor of Leeds, head of the +celebrated tool-manufacturing firm of that town, that when he first +went to work at Matthew Murray's, in 1814, a planing machine of his +invention was used to plane the circular part or back of the D valve, +which he had by that time introduced in the steam-engine. Mr. March +says, "I recollect it very distinctly, and even the sort of framing +on which it stood. The machine was not patented, and like many +inventions in those days, it was kept as much a secret as possible, +being locked up in a small room by itself, to which the ordinary +workmen could not obtain access. The year in which I remember it +being in use was, so far as I am aware, long before any +planing-machine of a similar kind had been invented." + +Matthew Murray was born at Stockton-on-Tees in the year 1763. His +parents were of the working class, and Matthew, like the other +members of the family, was brought up with the ordinary career of +labour before him. When of due age his father apprenticed him to the +trade of a blacksmith, in which he very soon acquired considerable +expertness. He married before his term had expired; after which, +trade being slack at Stockton, he found it necessary to look for work +elsewhere. Leaving his wife behind him, he set out for Leeds with his +bundle on his back, and after a long journey on foot, he reached that +town with not enough money left in his pocket to pay for a bed at the +Bay Horse inn, where he put up. But telling the landlord that he +expected work at Marshall's, and seeming to be a respectable young +man, the landlord trusted him; and he was so fortunate as to obtain +the job which he sought at Mr. Marshall's, who was then beginning the +manufacture of flax, for which the firm has since become so famous. + +Mr. Marshall was at that time engaged in improving the method of +manufacture,* + [footnote... +We are informed in Mr. Longstaffe's Annals and Characteristics of +Darlington, that the spinning of flax by machinery was first begun by +one John Kendrew, an ingenious self-taught mechanic of that town, who +invented a machine for the purpose, for which he took out a patent in +1787. Mr. Marshall went over from Leeds to see his machine, and +agreed to give him so much per spindle for the right to use it. But +ceasing to pay the patent right, Kendrew commenced an action against +him for a sum of nine hundred pounds alleged to be due under the +agreement. The claim was disputed, and Kendrew lost his action; and +it is added in Longstaffe's Annals, that even had he succeeded, it +would have been of no use; for Mr. Marshall declared that he had not +then the money wherewith to pay him. It is possible that Matthew +Murray may have obtained some experience of flax-machinery in working +for Kendrew, which afterwards proved of use to him in Mr. Marshall's +establishment. + ...] +and the young blacksmith was so fortunate or rather so dexterous as +to be able to suggest several improvements in the machinery which +secured the approval of his employer, who made him a present of 20L., +and very shortly promoted him to be the first mechanic in the +workshop. On this stroke of good fortune Murray took a house at the +neighbouring village of Beeston, sent to Stockton for his wife, who +speedily joined him, and he now felt himself fairly started in the +world. He remained with Mr. Marshall for about twelve years, during +which he introduced numerous improvements in the machinery for +spinning flax, and obtained the reputation of being a first-rate +mechanic. This induced Mr. James Fenton and Mr. David Wood to offer +to join him in the establishment of an engineering and machine-making +factory at Leeds; which he agreed to, and operations were commenced +at Holbeck in the year 1795. + +As Mr. Murray had obtained considerable practical knowledge of the +steam-engine while working at Mr. Marshall's, he took principal +charge of the engine-building department, while his partner Wood +directed the machine-making. In the branch of engine-building Mr. +Murray very shortly established a high reputation, treading close +upon the heels of Boulton and Watt--so close, indeed, that that firm +became very jealous of him, and purchased a large piece of ground +close to his works with the object of preventing their extension.* + [footnote... +The purchase of this large piece of ground, known as Camp Field, had +the effect of "plugging up" Matthew Murray for a time; and it +remained disused, except for the deposit of dead dogs and other +rubbish, for more than half a century. It has only been enclosed +during the present year, and now forms part of the works of Messrs. +Smith, Beacock, and Tannet, the eminent tool-makers. + ...] +His additions to the steam-engine were of great practical value, one +of which, the self-acting apparatus attached to the boiler for the +purpose of regulating the intensity of fire under it, and +consequently the production of steam, is still in general use. This +was invented by him as early as 1799. He also subsequently invented +the D slide valve, or at least greatly improved it, while he added to +the power of the air-pump, and gave a new arrangement to the other +parts, with a view to the simplification of the powers of the engine. +To make the D valve work efficiently, it was found necessary to form +two perfectly plane surfaces, to produce which he invented his +planing machine. He was also the first to adopt the practice of +placing the piston in a horizontal position in the common condensing +engine. Among his other modifications in the steam-engine, was his +improvement of the locomotive as invented by Trevithick; and it ought +to be remembered to his honour that he made the first locomotive that +regularly worked upon any railway. + +This was the engine erected by him for Blenkinsop, to work the +Middleton colliery railway near Leeds, on which it began to run in +1812, and continued in regular use for many years. In this engine he +introduced the double cylinder--Trevithick's engine being provided +with only one cylinder, the defects of which were supplemented by the +addition of a fly-wheel to carry the crank over the dead points. + +But Matthew Murray's most important inventions, considered in their +effects on manufacturing industry, were those connected with the +machinery for heckling and spinning flax, which he very greatly +improved. His heckling machine obtained for him the prize of the gold +medal of the Society of Arts; and this as well as his machine for wet +flax-spinning by means of sponge weights proved of the greatest +practical value. At the time when these inventions were made the flax +trade was on the point of expiring, the spinners being unable to +produce yarn to a profit; and their almost immediate effect was to +reduce the cost of production, to improve immensely the quality of +the manufacture, and to establish the British linen trade on a solid +foundation. The production of flax-machinery became an important +branch of manufacture at Leeds, large quantities being made for use +at home as well as for exportation, giving employment to an +increasing number of highly skilled mechanics.* + [footnote... +Among more recent improvers of flax-machinery, the late Sir Peter +Fairbairn is entitled to high merit: the work turned out by him being +of first-rate excellence, embodying numerous inventions and +improvements of great value and importance. + ...] +Mr. Murray's faculty for organising work, perfected by experience, +enabled him also to introduce many valuable improvements in the +mechanics of manufacturing. His pre-eminent skill in mill-gearing +became generally acknowledged, and the effects of his labours are +felt to this day in the extensive and still thriving branches of +industry which his ingenuity and ability mainly contributed to +establish. All the machine tools used in his establishment were +designed by himself, and he was most careful in the personal +superintendence of all the details of their construction. Mr. Murray +died at Leeds in 1826, in his sixty-third year. + +We have not yet exhausted the list of claimants to the invention of +the Planing Machine, for we find still another in the person of +Richard Roberts of Manchester, one of the most prolific of modem +inventors. Mr. Roberts has indeed achieved so many undisputed +inventions, that he can readily afford to divide the honour in this +case with others. He has contrived things so various as the +self-acting mule and the best electro-magnet, wet gas-meters and dry +planing machines, iron billard-tables and turret-clocks, the +centrifugal railway and the drill slotting-machine, an apparatus for +making cigars and machinery for the propulsion and equipment of +steamships; so that he may almost be regarded as the Admirable +Crichton of modem mechanics. + +Richard Roberts was born in 1789, at Carreghova in the parish of +Llanymynech. His father was by trade a shoemaker, to which he +occasionally added the occupation of toll-keeper. The house in which +Richard was born stood upon the border line which then divided the +counties of Salop and Montgomery; the front door opening in the one +county, and the back door in the other. Richard, when a boy, received +next to no education, and as soon as he was of fitting age was put to +common labouring work. For some time he worked in a quarry near his +father's dwelling; but being of an ingenious turn, he occupied his +leisure in making various articles of mechanism, partly for amusement +and partly for profit. One of his first achievements, while working +as a quarryman, was a spinning-wheel, of which he was very proud, for +it was considered "a good job." Thus he gradually acquired dexterity +in handling tools, and he shortly came to entertain the ambition of +becoming a mechanic. + +There were several ironworks in the neighbour hood, and thither he +went in search of employment. He succeeded in finding work as a +pattern-maker at Bradley, near Bilston; under John Wilkinson, the +famous ironmaster--a man of great enterprise as well as mechanical +skill; for he was the first man, as already stated, that Watt could +find capable of boring a cylinder with any approach to truth, for the +purposes of his steam-engines. After acquiring some practical +knowledge of the art of working in wood as well as iron, Roberts +proceeded to Birmingham, where he passed through different shops, +gaining further experience in mechanical practice. He tried his hand +at many kinds of work, and acquired considerable dexterity in each. +He was regarded as a sort of jack-of-all-trades; for he was a good +turner, a tolerable wheel-wright, and could repair mill-work at a +pinch. + +He next moved northward to the Horsley ironworks, Tipton, where he +was working as a pattern-maker when he had the misfortune to be drawn +in his own county for the militia. He immediately left his work and +made his way homeward to Llanymynech, determined not to be a soldier +or even a militiaman. But home was not the place for him to rest in, +and after bidding a hasty adieu to his father, he crossed the country +northward on foot and reached Liverpool, in the hope of finding work +there. Failing in that, he set out for Manchester and reached it at +dusk, very weary and very miry in consequence of the road being in +such a wretched state of mud and ruts. He relates that, not knowing a +person in the town, he went up to an apple-stall ostensibly to buy a +pennyworth of apples, but really to ask the stall-keeper if he knew +of any person in want of a hand. Was there any turner in the +neighbourhood? Yes, round the corner. Thither he went at once, found +the wood-turner in, and was promised a job on the following morning. +He remained with the turner for only a short time, after which he +found a job in Salford at lathe and tool-making. But hearing that the +militia warrant-officers were still searching for him, he became +uneasy and determined to take refuge in London. + +He trudged all the way on foot to that great hiding-place, and first +tried Holtzapffel's, the famous tool-maker's, but failing in his +application he next went to Maudslay's and succeeded in getting +employment. He worked there for some time, acquiring much valuable +practical knowledge in the use of tools, cultivating his skill by +contact with first-class workmen, and benefiting by the spirit of +active contrivance which pervaded the Maudslay shops. His manual +dexterity greatly increased, and his inventive ingenuity fully +stimulated, he determined on making his way back to Manchester, +which, even more than London itself, at that time presented abundant +openings for men of mechanical skill. Hence we find so many of the +best mechanics trained at Maudslay's and Clement's--Nasmyth, Lewis, +Muir, Roberts, Whitworth, and others--shortly rising into distinction +there as leading mechanicians and tool-makers. + +The mere enumeration of the various results of Mr. Roberts's +inventive skill during the period of his settlement at Manchester as +a mechanical engineer, would occupy more space than we can well +spare. But we may briefly mention a few of the more important. In +1816, while carrying on business on his own account in Deansgate, he +invented his improved sector for correctly sizing wheels in blank +previously to their being cut, which is still extensively used. In +the same year he invented his improved screw-lathe; and in the +following year, at the request of the boroughreeve and constables of +Manchester, he contrived an oscillating and rotating wet gas meter of +a new kind, which enabled them to sell gas by measure. This was the +first meter in which a water lute was applied to prevent the escape +of gas by the index shaft, the want of which, as well as its great +complexity, had prevented the only other gas meter then in existence +from working satisfactorily. The water lute was immediately adopted +by the patentee of that meter. The planing machine, though claimed, +as we have seen, by many inventors, was constructed by Mr. Roberts +after an original plan of his own in 1817, and became the tool most +generally employed in mechanical workshops--acting by means of a +chain and rack--though it has since been superseded to some extent by +the planing machine of Whitworth, which works both ways upon an +endless screw. Improvements followed in the slide-lathe (giving a +large range of speed with increased diameters for the same size of +headstocks, &c.), in the wheel-cutting engine, in the scale-beam (by +which, with a load of 2 oz. on each end, the fifteen-hundredth part +of a grain could be indicated), in the broaching-machine, the +slotting-machine, and other engines. + +But the inventions by which his fame became most extensively known +arose out of circumstances connected with the cotton manufactures of +Manchester and the neighbourhood. The great improvements which he +introduced in the machine for making weavers' reeds, led to the +formation of the firm of Sharp, Roberts, and Co., of which Mr. +Roberts was the acting mechanical partner for many years. Not less +important were his improvements in power-looms for weaving fustians, +which were extensively adopted. But by far the most famous of his +inventions was unquestionably his Self-acting Mule, one of the most +elaborate and beautiful pieces of machinery ever contrived. Before +its invention, the working of the entire machinery of the +cotton-mill, as well as the employment of the piecers, cleaners, and +other classes of operatives, depended upon the spinners, who, though +receiving the highest rates of pay, were by much the most given to +strikes; and they were frequently accustomed to turn out in times +when trade was brisk, thereby bringing the whole operations of the +manufactories to a standstill, and throwing all the other operatives +out of employment. A long-continued strike of this sort took place in +1824, when the idea occurred to the masters that it might be possible +to make the spinning-mules run out and in at the proper speed by +means of self-acting machinery, and thus render them in some measure +independent of the more refractory class of their workmen. It seemed, +however, to be so very difficult a problem, that they were by no +means sanguine of success in its solution. Some time passed before +they could find any mechanic willing so much as to consider the +subject. Mr. Ashton of Staley-bridge made every effort with this +object, but the answer he got was uniformly the same. The thing was +declared to be impracticable and impossible. Mr. Ashton, accompanied +by two other leading spinners, called on Sharp, Roberts, and Co., to +seek an interview with Mr. Roberts. They introduced the subject to +him, but he would scarcely listen to their explanations, cutting them +short with the remark that he knew nothing whatever about +cotton-spinning. They insisted, nevertheless, on explaining to him +what they required, but they went away without being able to obtain +from him any promise of assistance in bringing out the required +machine. + +The strike continued, and the manufacturers again called upon Mr. +Roberts, but with no better result. A third time they called and +appealed to Mr. Sharp, the capitalist of the firm, who promised to +use his best endeavours to induce his mechanical partner to take the +matter in hand. But Mr. Roberts, notwithstanding his reticence, had +been occupied in carefully pondering the subject since Mr. Ashton's +first interview with him. The very difficulty of the problem to be +solved had tempted him boldly to grapple with it, though he would not +hold out the slightest expectation to the cotton-spinners of his +being able to help them in their emergency until he saw his way +perfectly clear. That time had now come; and when Mr. Sharp +introduced the subject, he said he had turned the matter over and +thought he could construct the required self-acting machinery. It was +arranged that he should proceed with it at once, and after a close +study of four months he brought out the machine now so extensively +known as the self-acting mule. The invention was patented in 1825, +and was perfected by subsequent additions, which were also patented. + +Like so many other inventions, the idea of the self-acting mule was +not new. Thus Mr. William Strutt of Derby, the father of Lord Belper, +invented a machine of this sort at an early period; Mr. William +Belly, of the New Lanark Mills, invented a second; and various other +projectors tried their skill in the same direction; but none of these +inventions came into practical use. In such cases it has become +generally admitted that the real inventor is not the person who +suggests the idea of the invention, but he who first works it out +into a practicable process, and so makes it of practical and +commercial value. This was accomplished by Mr. Roberts, who, working +out the idea after his own independent methods, succeeded in making +the first self-acting mule that would really act as such; and he is +therefore fairly entitled to be regarded as its inventor. + +By means of this beautiful contrivance, spindle-carriages; bearing +hundreds of spindles, run themselves out and in by means of automatic +machinery, at the proper speed, without a hand touching them; the +only labour required being that of a few boys and girls to watch them +and mend the broken threads when the carriage recedes from the roller +beam, and to stop it when the cop is completely formed, as is +indicated by the bell of the counter attached to the working gear. +Mr. Baines describes the self-acting mule while at work as "drawing +out, twisting, and winding up many thousand threads, with unfailing +precision and indefatigable patience and strength--a scene as magical +to the eye which is not familiarized with it, as the effects have +been marvellous in augmenting the wealth and population of the +country."* + [footnote... +EDWARD BAINES, Esq., M.P., History of the Cotton Manufacture, 212. + ...] + +Mr. Roberts's great success with the self-acting mule led to his +being often appealed to for help in the mechanics of manufacturing. +In 1826, the year after his patent was taken out, he was sent for to +Mulhouse, in Alsace, to design and arrange the machine establishment +of Andre Koechlin and Co.; and in that and the two subsequent years +he fairly set the works a-going, instructing the workmen in the +manufacture of spinning-machinery, and thus contributing largely to +the success of the French cotton manufacture. In 1832 he patented his +invention of the Radial Arm for "winding on" in the self-acting mule, +now in general use; and in future years he took out sundry patents +for roving, slubbing, spinning, and doubling cotton and other fibrous +materials; and for weaving, beetling, and mangling fabrics of various +sorts. + +A considerable branch of business carried on by the firm of Sharp, +Roberts, and Co. was the manufacture of iron billiard-tables, which +were constructed with almost perfect truth by means of Mr. Roberts's +planing-machine, and became a large article of export. But a much +more important and remunerative department was the manufacture of +locomotives, which was begun by the firm shortly after the opening of +the Liverpool and Manchester Railway had marked this as one of the +chief branches of future mechanical engineering. Mr. Roberts adroitly +seized the opportunity presented by this new field of invention and +enterprise, and devoted himself for a time to the careful study of +the locomotive and its powers. As early as the year 1829 we find him +presenting to the Manchester Mechanics' Institute a machine +exhibiting the nature of friction upon railroads, in solution of the +problem then under discussion in the scientific journals. In the +following year he patented an arrangement for communicating power to +both driving-wheels of the locomotive, at all times in the exact +proportions required when turning to the right or left,--an +arrangement which has since been adopted in many road locomotives and +agricultural engines. In the same patent will be found embodied his +invention of the steam-brake, which was also a favourite idea of +George Stephenson, since elaborated by Mr. MacConnell of the London +and North-Western Railway. In 1834, Sharp, Roberts, and Co. began the +manufacture of locomotives on a large scale; and the compactness of +their engines, the excellence of their workmanship, and the numerous +original improvements introduced in them, speedily secured for the +engines of the Atlas firm a high reputation and a very large demand. +Among Mr. Roberts's improvements may be mentioned his method of +manufacturing the crank axle, of welding the rim and tyres of the +wheels, and his arrangement and form of the wrought-iron framing and +axle-guards. His system of templets and gauges, by means of which +every part of an engine or tender corresponded with that of every +other engine or tender of the same class, was as great an improvement +as Maudslay's system of uniformity of parts in other descriptions of +machinery. + +In connection with the subject of railways, we may allude in passing +to Mr. Roberts's invention of the Jacquard punching machine--a +self-acting tool of great power, used for punching any required +number of holes, of any pitch and to any pattern, with mathematical +accuracy, in bridge or boiler plates. The origin of this invention +was somewhat similar to that of the self-acting mule. The contractors +for the Conway Tubular Bridge while under construction, in 1848, were +greatly hampered by combinations amongst the workmen, and they +despaired of being able to finish the girders within the time +specified in the contract. The punching of the iron plates by hand +was a tedious and expensive as well as an inaccurate process; and the +work was proceeding so slowly that the contractors found it +absolutely necessary to adopt some new method of punching if they +were to finish the work in time. In their emergency they appealed to +Mr. Roberts, and endeavoured to persuade him to take the matter up. +He at length consented to do so, and evolved the machine in question +during his evening's leisure--for the most part while quietly sipping +his tea. The machine was produced, the contractors were enabled to +proceed with the punching of the plates independent of the refractory +men, and the work was executed with a despatch, accuracy, and +excellence that would not otherwise have been possible. Only a few +years since Mr. Roberts added a useful companion to the Jacquard +punching machine, in his combined self-acting machine for shearing +iron and punching both webs of angle or T iron simultaneously to any +required pitch; though this machine, like others which have proceeded +from his fertile brain, is ahead even of this fast-manufacturing age, +and has not yet come into general use, but is certain to do so before +many years have elapsed. + +These inventions were surely enough for one man to have accomplished; +but we have not yet done. The mere enumeration of his other +inventions would occupy several pages. We shall merely allude to a +few of them. One was his Turret Clock, for which he obtained the +medal at the Great Exhibition of 1851. Another was his Prize +Electro-Magnet of 1845. When this subject was first mentioned to him, +he said he did not know anything of the theory or practice of +electro-magnetism, but he would try and find out. The result of his +trying was that he won the prize for the most powerful +electro-magnet: one is placed in the museum at Peel Park, Manchester, +and another with the Scottish Society of Arts, Edinburgh. In 1846 he +perfected an American invention for making cigars by machinery; +enabling a boy, working one of his cigar-engines, to make as many as +5000 in a day. In 1852 he patented improvements in the construction, +propelling, and equipment of steamships, which have, we believe, been +adopted to a certain extent by the Admiralty; and a few years later, +in 1855, we find him presenting the Secretary of War with plans of +elongated rifle projectiles to be used in smooth-bore ordnance with a +view to utilize the old-pattern gun. His head, like many inventors of +the time, being full of the mechanics of war, he went so far as to +wait upon Louis Napoleon, and laid before him a plan by which +Sebastopol was to be blown down. In short, upon whatever subject he +turned his mind, he left the impress of his inventive faculty. If it +was imperfect, he improved it; if incapable of improvement, and +impracticable, he invented something entirely new, superseding it +altogether. But with all his inventive genius, in the exercise of +which Mr. Roberts has so largely added to the productive power of the +country, we regret to say that he is not gifted with the commercial +faculty. He has helped others in their difficulties, but forgotten +himself. Many have profited by his inventions, without even +acknowledging the obligations which they owed to him. They have used +his brains and copied his tools, and the "sucked orange" is all but +forgotten. There may have been a want of worldly wisdom on his part, +but it is lamentable to think that one of the most prolific and +useful inventors of his time should in his old age be left to fight +with poverty. + +Mr. Whitworth is another of the first-class tool-makers of Manchester +who has turned to excellent account his training in the workshops of +Maudslay and Clement. He has carried fully out the system of +uniformity in Screw Threads which they initiated; and he has still +further improved the mechanism of the planing machine, enabling it to +work both backwards and forwards by means of a screw and roller +motion. His "Jim Crow Machine," so called from its peculiar motion in +reversing itself and working both ways, is an extremely beautiful +tool, adapted alike for horizontal, vertical, or angular motions. The +minute accuracy of Mr. Whitworth's machines is not the least of their +merits; and nothing will satisfy him short of perfect truth. At the +meeting of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers at Glasgow in 1856 +he read a paper on the essential importance of possessing a true +plane as a standard of reference in mechanical constructions, and he +described elaborately the true method of securing it,--namely, by +scraping, instead of by the ordinary process of grinding. At the same +meeting he exhibited a machine of his invention by which he stated +that a difference of the millionth part of an inch in length could at +once be detected. He also there urged his favourite idea of +uniformity, and proper gradations of size of parts, in all the +various branches of the mechanical arts, as a chief means towards +economy of production--a principle, as he showed, capable of very +extensive application. To show the progress of tools and machinery in +his own time, Mr. Whitworth cited the fact that thirty years since +the cost of labour for making a surface of cast-iron true--one of the +most important operations in mechanics--by chipping and filing by the +hand, was 12s. a square foot; whereas it is now done by the planing +machine at a cost for labour of less than a penny. Then in machinery, +pieces of 74 reed printing-cotton cloth of 29 yards each could not be +produced at less cost than 30s. 6d. per piece; whereas the same +description is now sold for 3s. 9d. Mr. Whitworth has been among the +most effective workers in this field of improvement, his tools taking +the first place in point of speed, accuracy, and finish of work, in +which respects they challenge competition with the world. Mr. +Whitworth has of late years been applying himself with his accustomed +ardour to the development of the powers of rifled guns and +projectiles,--a branch of mechanical science in which he confessedly +holds a foremost place, and in perfecting which he is still occupied. + + +CHAPTER XV. + +JAMES NASMYTH. + + "By Hammer and Hand + All Arts doth stand." + Hammermen's Motto. + + +The founder Of the Scotch family of Naesmyth is said to have derived +his name from the following circumstance. In the course of the feuds +which raged for some time between the Scotch kings and their powerful +subjects the Earls of Douglas, a rencontre took place one day on the +outskirts of a Border village, when the king's adherents were +worsted. One of them took refuge in the village smithy, where, +hastily disguising himself, and donning a spare leathern apron, he +pretended to be engaged in assisting the smith with his work, when a +party of the Douglas followers rushed in. They glanced at the +pretended workman at the anvil, and observed him deliver a blow upon +it so unskilfully that the hammer-shaft broke in his hand. On this +one of the Douglas men rushed at him, calling out, "Ye're nae smyth!" +The assailed man seized his sword, which lay conveniently at hand, +and defended himself so vigorously that he shortly killed his +assailant, while the smith brained another with his hammer; and, a +party of the king's men having come to their help, the rest were +speedily overpowered. The royal forces then rallied, and their +temporary defeat was converted into a victory. The king bestowed a +grant of land on his follower "Nae Smyth," who assumed for his arms a +sword between two hammers with broken shafts, and the motto "Non arte +sed Marte," as if to disclaim the art of the Smith, in which he had +failed, and to emphasize the superiority of the warrior. Such is said +to be the traditional origin of the family of Naesmyth of Posso in +Peeblesshire, who continue to bear the same name and arms. + +It is remarkable that the inventor of the steam-hammer should have so +effectually contradicted the name he bears and reversed the motto of +his family; for so far from being "Nae Smyth," he may not +inappropriately be designated the very Vulcan of the nineteenth +century. His hammer is a tool of immense power and pliancy, but for +which we must have stopped short in many of those gigantic +engineering works which are among the marvels of the age we live in. +It possesses so much precision and delicacy that it will chip the end +of an egg resting in a glass on the anvil without breaking it, while +it delivers a blow of ten tons with such a force as to be felt +shaking the parish. It is therefore with a high degree of +appropriateness that Mr. Nasmyth has discarded the feckless hammer +with the broken shaft, and assumed for his emblem his own magnificent +steam-hammer, at the same time reversing the family motto, which he +has converted into "Non Marte sed Arte." + +James Nasmyth belongs to a family whose genius in art has long been +recognised. His father, Alexander Nasmyth of Edinburgh, was a +landscape-painter of great eminence, whose works are sometimes +confounded with those of his son Patrick, called the English Hobbema, +though his own merits are peculiar and distinctive. The elder Nasmyth +was also an admirable portrait painter, as his head of Burns--the +best ever painted of the poet--bears ample witness. His daughters, +the Misses Nasmyth, were highly skilled painters of landscape, and +their works are well known and much prized. James, the youngest of +the family, inherits the same love of art, though his name is more +extensively known as a worker and inventor in iron. He was born at +Edinburgh, on the 19th of August, 1808; and his attention was early +directed to mechanics by the circumstance of this being one of his +father's hobbies. Besides being an excellent painter, Mr. Nasmyth had +a good general knowledge of architecture and civil engineering, and +could work at the lathe and handle tools with the dexterity of a +mechanic. He employed nearly the whole of his spare time in a little +workshop which adjoined his studio, where he encouraged his youngest +son to work with him in all sorts of materials. Among his visitors at +the studio were Professor Leslie, Patrick Miller of Dalswinton, and +other men of distinction. He assisted Mr. Miller in his early +experiments with paddle-boats, which eventually led to the invention +of the steamboat. It was a great advantage for the boy to be trained +by a father who so loved excellence in all its forms, and could +minister to his love of mechanics by his own instruction and +practice. James used to drink in with pleasure and profit the +conversation which passed between his father and his visitors on +scientific and mechanical subjects; and as he became older, the +resolve grew stronger in him every day that he would be a mechanical +engineer, and nothing else. At a proper age, he was sent to the High +School, then as now celebrated for the excellence of its instruction, +and there he laid the foundations of a sound and liberal education. +But he has himself told the simple story of his early life in such +graphic terms that we feel we cannot do better than quote his own +words: -* + [footnote... +Originally prepared for John Hick, Esq., C.E., of Bolton, and +embodied by him in his lectures on "Self Help," delivered before the +Holy Trinity Working Men's Association of that town, on the 18th and +20th March, 1862; the account having been kindly corrected by Mr. +Nasmyth for the present publication. + ...] + +"I had the good luck," he says, "to have for a school companion the +son of an iron founder. Every spare hour that I could command was +devoted to visits to his father's iron foundry, where I delighted to +watch the various processes of moulding, iron-melting, casting, +forging, pattern-making, and other smith and metal work; and although +I was only about twelve years old at the time, I used to lend a hand, +in which hearty zeal did a good deal to make up for want of strength. +I look back to the Saturday afternoons spent in the workshops of that +small foundry, as an important part of my education. I did not trust +to reading about such and such things; I saw and handled them; and +all the ideas in connection with them became permanent in my mind. I +also obtained there--what was of much value to me in after life-- +a considerable acquaintance with the nature and characters of +workmen. By the time I was fifteen, I could work and turn out really +respectable jobs in wood, brass, iron, and steel: indeed, in the +working of the latter inestimable material, I had at a very early age +(eleven or twelve) acquired considerable proficiency. As that was the +pre-lucifer match period, the possession of a steel and tinder box +was quite a patent of nobility among boys. So I used to forge old +files into 'steels' in my father's little workshop, and harden them +and produce such first-rate, neat little articles in that line, that +I became quite famous amongst my school companions; and many a task +have I had excused me by bribing the monitor, whose grim sense of +duty never could withstand the glimpse of a steel. + +"My first essay at making a steam engine was when I was fifteen. I +then made a real working; steam-engine, 1 3/4 diameter cylinder, and +8 in. stroke, which not only could act, but really did some useful +work; for I made it grind the oil colours which my father required +for his painting. Steam engine models, now so common, were +exceedingly scarce in those days, and very difficult to be had; and +as the demand for them arose, I found it both delightful and +profitable to make them; as well as sectional models of steam +engines, which I introduced for the purpose of exhibiting the +movements of all the parts, both exterior and interior. With the +results of the sale of such models I was enabled to pay the price of +tickets of admission to the lectures on natural philosophy and +chemistry delivered in the University of Edinburgh. About the same +time (1826) I was so happy as to be employed by Professor Leslie in +making models and portions of apparatus required by him for his +lectures and philosophical investigations, and I had also the +inestimable good fortune to secure his friendship. His admirably +clear manner of communicating a knowledge of the fundamental +principles of mechanical science rendered my intercourse with him of +the utmost importance to myself. A hearty, cheerful, earnest desire +to toil in his service, caused him to take pleasure in instructing me +by occasional explanations of what might otherwise have remained +obscure. + +"About the years 1827 and 1828, the subject of steam-carriages for +common roads occupied much of the attention of the public. Many tried +to solve the problem. I made a working model of an engine which +performed so well that some friends determined to give me the means +of making one on a larger scale. This I did; and I shall never forget +the pleasure and the downright hard work I had in producing, in the +autumn of 1828, at an outlay of 60L., a complete steam-carriage, that +ran many a mile with eight persons on it. After keeping it in action +two months, to the satisfaction of all who were interested in it, my +friends allowed me to dispose of it, and I sold it a great bargain, +after which the engine was used in driving a small factory. I may +mention that in that engine I employed the waste steam to cause an +increased draught by its discharge up the chimney. This important use +of the waste steam had been introduced by George Stephenson some +years before, though entirely unknown to me. + +"The earnest desire which I cherished of getting forward in the real +business of life induced me to turn my attention to obtaining +employment in some of the great engineering establishments of the +day, at the head of which, in my fancy as well as in reality, stood +that of Henry Maudslay, of London. It was the summit of my ambition +to get work in that establishment; but as my father had not the means +of paying a premium, I determined to try what I could do towards +attaining my object by submitting to Mr. Maudslay actual specimens of +my capability as a young workman and draughtsman. To this end I set +to work and made a small steam-engine, every part of which was the +result of my own handiwork, including the casting and the forging of +the several parts. This I turned out in such a style as I should even +now be proud of. My sample drawings were, I may say, highly +respectable. Armed with such means of obtaining the good opinion of +the great Henry Maudslay, on the l9th of May, 1829, I sailed for +London in a Leith smack, and after an eight days' voyage saw the +metropolis for the first time. I made bold to call on Mr. Maudslay, +and told him my simple tale. He desired me to bring my models for him +to look at. I did so, and when he came to me I could see by the +expression of his cheerful, well-remembered countenance, that I had +attained my object. He then and there appointed me to be his own +private workman, to assist him in his little paradise of a workshop, +furnished with the models of improved machinery and engineering tools +of which he has been the great originator. He left me to arrange as +to wages with his chief cashier, Mr. Robert Young, and on the first +Saturday evening I accordingly went to the counting-house to enquire +of him about my pay. He asked me what would satisfy me. Knowing the +value of the situation I had obtained, and having a very modest +notion of my worthiness to occupy it, I said, that if he would not +consider l0s. a week too much, I thought I could do very well with +that. I suppose he concluded that I had some means of my own to live +on besides the l0s. a week which I asked. He little knew that I had +determined not to cost my father another farthing when I left-home to +begin the world on my own account. My proposal was at once acceded +to. And well do I remember the pride and delight I felt when I +carried to my three shillings a week lodging that night my first +wages. Ample they were in my idea; for I knew how little I could live +on, and was persuaded that by strict economy I could easily contrive +to make the money support me. To help me in this object, I contrived +a small cooking apparatus, which I forthwith got made by a tinsmith +in Lambeth, at a cost of 6s., and by its aid I managed to keep the +eating and drinking part of my private account within 3s. 6d. per +week, or 4s. at the outside. I had three meat dinners a week, and +generally four rice and milk dinners, all of which were cooked by my +little apparatus, which I set in action after breakfast. The oil cost +not quite a halfpenny per day. The meat dinners consisted of a stew +of from a half to three quarters of a lb. of leg of beef, the meat +costing 3 1/2d. per lb., which, with sliced potatoes and a little +onion, and as much water as just covered all, with a sprinkle of salt +and black pepper, by the time I returned to dinner at half-past six +furnished a repast in every respect as good as my appetite. For +breakfast I had coffee and a due proportion of quartern loaf. After +the first year of my employment under Mr. Maudslay, my wages were +raised to 15s. a week, and I then, but not till then, indulged in the +luxury of butter to my bread. I am the more particular in all this, +to show you that I was a thrifty housekeeper, although only a lodger +in a 3s. room. I have the old apparatus by me yet, and I shall have +another dinner out of it ere I am a year older, out of regard to days +that were full of the real romance of life. + +"On the death of Henry Maudslay in 1831, I passed over to the service +of his worthy partner, Mr. Joshua Field, and acted as his +draughtsman, much to my advantage, until the end of that year, when I +returned to Edinburgh, to construct a small stock of engineering +tools for the purpose of enabling me to start in business on my own +account. This occupied me until the spring of l833, and during the +interval I was accustomed to take in jobs to execute in my little +workshop in Edinburgh, so as to obtain the means of completing my +stock of tools.* + [footnote... +Most of the tools with which he began business in Manchester were +made by his own hands in his father's little workshop at Edinburgh, +He was on one occasion " hard up" for brass with which to make a +wheel for his planing machine. There was a row of old-fashioned brass +candlesticks standing in bright array on the kitchen mantelpiece +which he greatly coveted for the purpose. His father was reluctant to +give them up; "for," said he, "I have had many a crack with Burns +when these candlesticks were on the table. But his mother at length +yielded; when the candlesticks were at once recast, and made into the +wheel of the planing machine, which is still at work in Manchester. + ...] +In June, 1834, I went to Manchester, and took a flat of an old mill +in Dale Street, where I began business. In two years my stock had so +increased as to overload the floor of the old building to such an +extent that the land lord, Mr. Wrenn, became alarmed, especially as +the tenant below me--a glass-cutter--had a visit from the end of +a 20-horse engine beam one morning among his cut tumblers. To set +their anxiety at rest, I went out that evening to Patricroft and took +a look at a rather choice bit of land bounded on one side by the +canal, and on the other by the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. By +the end of the week I had secured a lease of the site for 999 years; +by the end of the month my wood sheds were erected; the ring of the +hammer on the smith's anvil was soon heard all over the place; and +the Bridgewater Foundry was fairly under way. There I toiled right +heartily until December 31st, 1856, when I retired to enjoy in active +leisure the reward of a laborious life, during which, with the +blessing of God, I enjoyed much true happiness through the hearty +love which I always had for my profession; and I trust I may be +allowed to say, without undue vanity, that I have left behind me some +useful results of my labours in those inventions with which my name +is identified, which have had no small share in the accomplishment of +some of the greatest mechanical works of our age." If Mr. Nasmyth had +accomplished nothing more than the invention of his steam-hammer, it +would have been enough to found a reputation. Professor Tomlinson +describes it as "one of the most perfect of artificial machines and +noblest triumphs of mind over matter that modern English engineers +have yet developed."* + [footnote... +Cyclopaedia of Useful Arts, ii. 739. + ...] +The hand-hammer has always been an important tool, and, in the form +of the stone celt, it was perhaps the first invented. When the hammer +of iron superseded that of stone, it was found practicable in the +hands of a "cunning" workman to execute by its means metal work of +great beauty and even delicacy. But since the invention of cast-iron, +and the manufacture of wrought-iron in large masses, the art of +hammer-working has almost become lost; and great artists, such as +Matsys of Antwerp and Rukers of Nuremberg were,* + [footnote... +Matsys' beautiful wrought-iron well cover, still standing in front of +the cathedral at Antwerp, and Rukers's steel or iron chair exhibited +at South Kensington in 1862, are examples of the beautiful hammer +work turned out by the artisans of the middle ages. The railings of +the tombs of Henry VII. and Queen Eleanor in Westminster Abbey, the +hinges and iron work of Lincoln Cathedral, of St. George's Chapel at +Windsor, and of some of the Oxford colleges, afford equally striking +illustrations of the skill of our English blacksmiths several +centuries ago. + ...] +no longer think it worth their while to expend time and skill in +working on so humble a material as wrought-iron. It is evident from +the marks of care and elaborate design which many of these early +works exhibit, that the workman's heart was in his work, and that his +object was not merely to get it out of hand, but to execute it in +first-rate artistic style. + +When the use of iron extended and larger ironwork came to be forged, +for cannon, tools, and machinery, the ordinary hand-hammer was found +insufficient, and the helve or forge-hammer was invented. This was +usually driven by a water-wheel, or by oxen or horses. The +tilt-hammer was another form in which it was used, the smaller kinds +being worked by the foot. Among Watt's various inventions, was a +tilt-hammer of considerable power, which he at first worked by means +of a water-wheel, and afterwards by a steam engine regulated by a +fly-wheel. His first hammer of this kind was 120 lbs. in weight; it +was raised eight inches before making each blow. Watt afterwards made +a tilt-hammer for Mr. Wilkinson of Bradley Forge, of 7 1/2 cwt., and +it made 300 blows a minute . Other improvements were made in the +hammer from time to time, but no material alteration was made in the +power by which it was worked until Mr. Nasmyth took it in hand, and +applying to it the force of steam, at once provided the worker in +iron with the most formidable of machine-tools. This important +invention originated as follows: + +In the early part of 1837, the directors of the Great Western +Steam-Ship Company sent Mr. Francis Humphries, their engineer, to +consult Mr. Nasmyth as to some engineering tools of unusual size and +power, which were required for the construction of the engines of the +"Great Britain" steamship. They had determined to construct those +engines on the vertical trunk-engine principle, in accordance with +Mr. Humphries' designs; and very complete works were erected by them +at their Bristol dockyard for the execution of the requisite +machinery, the most important of the tools being supplied by Nasmyth +and Gaskell. The engines were in hand, when a difficulty arose with +respect to the enormous paddle-shaft of the vessel, which was of such +a size of forging as had never before been executed. Mr. Humphries +applied to the largest engineering firms throughout the country for +tenders of the price at which they would execute this part of the +work, but to his surprise and dismay he found that not one of the +firms he applied to would undertake so large a forging. In this +dilemma he wrote to Mr. Nasmyth on the 24th November,1838, informing +him of this unlooked-for difficulty. "I find," said he, "there is not +a forge-hammer in England or Scotland powerful enough to forge the +paddle-shaft of the engines for the 'Great Britain!' What am I to do? +Do you think I might dare to use cast-iron?" + +This letter immediately set Mr. Nasmyth a-thinking. How was it that +existing hammers were incapable of forging a wrought-iron shaft of +thirty inches diameter? Simply because of their want of compass, or +range and fall, as well as power of blow. A few moments' rapid +thought satisfied him that it was by rigidly adhering to the old +traditional form of hand-hammer--of which the tilt, though driven +by steam, was but a modification--that the difficulty had arisen. +When even the largest hammer was tilted up to its full height, its +range was so small, that when a piece of work of considerable size +was placed on the anvil, the hammer became "gagged," and, on such an +occasion, where the forging required the most powerful blow, it +received next to no blow at all,--the clear space for fall being +almost entirely occupied by the work on the anvil. + +The obvious remedy was to invent some method, by which a block of +iron should be lifted to a sufficient height above the object on +which it was desired to strike a blow, and let the block fall down +upon the work,--guiding it in its descent by such simple means as +should give the required precision in the percussive action of the +falling mass. Following out this idea, Mr. Nasmyth at once sketched +on paper his steam-hammer, having it clearly before him in his mind's +eye a few minutes after receiving Mr. Humphries' letter narrating his +unlooked-for difficulty. The hammer, as thus sketched, consisted of, +first an anvil on which to rest the work; second, a block of iron +constituting the hammer or blow-giving part; third, an inverted +steam-cylinder to whose piston-rod the block was attached. All that +was then required to produce by such means a most effective hammer, +was simply to admit steam in the cylinder so as to act on the under +side of the piston, and so raise the block attached to the +piston-rod, and by a simple contrivance to let the steam escape and +so permit the block rapidly to descend by its own gravity upon the +work then on the anvil. Such, in a few words, is the rationale of the +steam-hammer. + +By the same day's post, Mr. Nasmyth wrote to Mr. Humphries, inclosing +a sketch of the invention by which he proposed to forge the "Great +Britain" paddle-shaft. Mr. Humphries showed it to Mr. Brunel, the +engineer-inchief of the company, to Mr. Guppy, the managing director, +and to others interested in the undertaking, by all of whom it was +heartily approved. Mr. Nasmyth gave permission to communicate his +plans to such forge proprietors as might feel disposed to erect such +a hammer to execute the proposed work,--the only condition which he +made being, that in the event of his hammer being adopted, he was to +be allowed to supply it according to his own design. + +The paddle-shaft of the "Great Britain" was, however, never forged. +About that time, the substitution of the Screw for the Paddle-wheel +as a means of propulsion of steam-vessels was attracting much +attention; and the performances of the "Archimedes" were so +successful as to induce Mr. Brunel to recommend his Directors to +adopt the new power. They yielded to his entreaty. The great engines +which Mr. Humphries had designed were accordingly set aside; and he +was required to produce fresh designs of engines suited for screw +propulsion. The result was fatal to Mr. Humphries. The labour, the +anxiety, and perhaps the disappointment, proved too much for him, and +a brain-fever carried him off; so that neither his great paddle-shaft +nor Mr. Nasmyth's steam-hammer to forge it was any longer needed. + +The hammer was left to bide its time. No forge-master would take it +up. The inventor wrote to all the great firms, urging its superiority +to every other tool for working malleable iron into all kinds of +forge work. Thus he wrote and sent illustrative sketches of his +hammer to Accramans and Morgan of Bristol, to the late Benjamin Hick +and Rushton and Eckersley of Bolton, to Howard and Ravenhill of +Rotherhithe, and other firms; but unhappily bad times for the iron +trade had set in; and although all to whom he communicated his design +were much struck with its simplicity and obvious advantages, the +answer usually given was--"We have not orders enough to keep in +work the forge-hammers we already have, and we do not desire at +present to add any new ones, however improved." At that time no +patent had been taken out for the invention. Mr. Nasmyth had not yet +saved money enough to enable him to do so on his own account; and his +partner declined to spend money upon a tool that no engineer would +give the firm an order for. No secret was made of the invention, and, +excepting to its owner, it did not seem to be worth one farthing. + +Such was the unpromising state of affairs, when M. Schneider, of the +Creusot Iron Works in France, called at the Patricroft works together +with his practical mechanic M. Bourdon, for the purpose of ordering +some tools of the firm. Mr. Nasmyth was absent on a journey at the +time, but his partner, Mr. Gaskell, as an act of courtesy to the +strangers, took the opportunity of showing them all that was new and +interesting in regard to mechanism about the works. And among other +things, Mr. Gaskell brought out his partner's sketch or "Scheme +book," which lay in a drawer in the office, and showed them the +design of the Steam Hammer, which no English firm would adopt. They +were much struck with its simplicity and practical utility; and M. +Bourdon took careful note of its arrangements. Mr. Nasmyth on his +return was informed of the visit of MM. Schneider and Bourdon, but +the circumstance of their having inspected the design of his +steam-hammer seems to have been regarded by his partner as too +trivial a matter to be repeated to him; and he knew nothing of the +circumstance until his visit to France in April, 1840. When passing +through the works at Creusot with M. Bourdon, Mr. Nasmyth saw a crank +shaft of unusual size, not only forged in the piece, but punched. He +immediately asked, "How did you forge that shaft?" M. Bourdon's +answer was, "Why, with your hammer, to be sure!" Great indeed was +Nasmyth's surprise; for he had never yet seen the hammer, except in +his own drawing! A little explanation soon cleared all up. M. Bourdon +said he had been so much struck with the ingenuity and simplicity of +the arrangement, that he had no sooner returned than he set to work, +and had a hammer made in general accordance with the design Mr. +Gaskell had shown him; and that its performances had answered his +every expectation. He then took Mr. Nasmyth to see the steam-hammer; +and great was his delight at seeing the child of his brain in full +and active work. It was not, according to Mr. Nasmyth's ideas, quite +perfect, and he readily suggested several improvements, conformable +with the original design, which M. Bourdon forthwith adopted. + +On reaching England, Mr. Nasmyth at once wrote to his partner telling +him what he had seen, and urging that the taking out of a patent for +the protection of the invention ought no longer to be deferred. But +trade was still very much depressed, and as the Patricroft firm +needed all their capital to carry on their business, Mr. Gaskell +objected to lock any of it up in engineering novelties. Seeing +himself on the brink of losing his property in the invention, Mr. +Nasmyth applied to his brother-in-law, William Bennett, Esq., who +advanced him the requisite money for the purpose--about 280L.,-- +and the patent was secured in June 1840. The first hammer, of 30 +cwt., was made for the Patricroft works, with the consent of the +partners; and in the course of a few weeks it was in full work. The +precision and beauty of its action--the perfect ease with which it +was managed, and the untiring force of its percussive blows--were +the admiration of all who saw it; and from that moment the +steam-hammer became a recognised power in modern mechanics. The +variety or gradation of its blows was such, that it was found +practicable to manipulate a hammer of ten tons as easily as if it had +only been of ten ounces weight. It was under such complete control +that while descending with its greatest momentum, it could be +arrested at any point with even greater ease than any instrument used +by hand. While capable of forging an Armstrong hundred-pounder, or +the sheet-anchor for a ship of the line, it could hammer a nail, or +crack a nut without bruising the kernel. When it came into general +use, the facilities which it afforded for executing all kinds of +forging had the effect of greatly increasing the quantity of work +done, at the same time that expense was saved. The cost of making +anchors was reduced by at least 50 per cent., while the quality of +the forging was improved. Before its invention the manufacture of a +shaft of l5 or 20cwt. required the concentrated exertions of a large +establishment, and its successful execution was regarded as a great +triumph of skill.; whereas forgings of 20 and 30 tons weight are now +things of almost every-day occurrence. Its advantages were so +obvious, that its adoption soon became general, and in the course of +a few years Nasmyth steam-hammers were to be found in every +well-appointed workshop both at home and abroad. Many modifications +have been made in the tool, by Condie, Morrison, Naylor, Rigby, and +others; but Nasmyth's was the father of them all, and still holds its +ground.* + [footnote... +Mr. Nasmyth has lately introduced, with the assistance of Mr. Wilson +of the Low Moor Iron Works, a new, exceedingly ingenious, and very +simple contrivance for working the hammer. By this application any +length of stroke, any amount of blow, and any amount of variation can +be given by the operation of a single lever; and by this improvement +the machine has attained a rapidity of action and change of motion +suitable to the powers of the engine, and the form or consistency of +the articles under the hammer.--Mr. FAIRBAIRN'S Report on the Paris +Universal Exhibition of 1855, p. 100. + ...] + +Among the important uses to which this hammer has of late years been +applied, is the manufacture of iron plates for covering our ships of +war, and the fabrication of the immense wrought-iron ordnance of +Armstrong, Whitworth, and Blakely. But for the steam-hammer, indeed, +it is doubtful whether such weapons could have been made. It is also +used for the re-manufacture of iron in various other forms, to say +nothing of the greatly extended use which it has been the direct +means of effecting in wrought-iron and steel forgings in every +description of machinery, from the largest marine steam-engines to +the most nice and delicate parts of textile mechanism. "It is not too +much to say," observes a writer in the Engineer, "that, without +Nasmyth's steam-hammer, we must have stopped short in many of those +gigantic engineering works which, but for the decay of all wonder in +us, would be the perpetual wonder of this age, and which have enabled +our modern engineers to take rank above the gods of all mythologies. +There is one use to which the steam-hammer is now becoming +extensively applied by some of our manufacturers that deserves +especial mention, rather for the prospect which it opens to us than +for what has already been actually accomplished. We allude to the +manufacture of large articles in DIES. At one manufactory in the +country, railway wheels, for example, are being manufactured with +enormous economy by this means. The various parts of the wheels are +produced in quantity either by rolling or by dies under the hammer; +these parts are brought together in their relative positions in a +mould, heated to a welding heat, and then by a blow of the steam +hammer, furnished with dies, are stamped into a complete and all but +finished wheel. It is evident that wherever wrought-iron articles of +a manageable size have to be produced in considerable quantities, the +same process may be adopted, and the saving effected by the +substitution of this for the ordinary forging process will doubtless +ere long prove incalculable. For this, as for the many other +advantageous uses of the steam-hammer, we are primarily and mainly +indebted to Mr. Nasmyth. It is but right, therefore, that we should +hold his name in honour. In fact, when we think of the universal +service which this machine is rendering us, we feel that some special +expression of our indebtedness to him would be a reasonable and +grateful service. The benefit which he has conferred upon us is so +great as to justly entitle him to stand side by side with the few men +who have gained name and fame as great inventive engineers, and to +whom we have testified our gratitude--usually, unhappily, when it +was too late for them to enjoy it." + +Mr. Nasmyth subsequently applied the principle of the steam-hammer in +the pile driver, which he invented in 1845. Until its production, all +piles had been driven by means of a small mass of iron falling upon +the head of the pile with great velocity from a considerable height, +-- the raising of the iron mass by means of the "monkey" being an +operation that occupied much time and labour, with which the results +were very incommensurate. Pile-driving was, in Mr. Nasmyth's words, +conducted on the artillery or cannon-ball principle; the action being +excessive and the mass deficient, and adapted rather for destructive +than impulsive action. In his new and beautiful machine, he applied +the elastic force of steam in raising the ram or driving block, on +which, the block being disengaged, its whole weight of three tons +descended on the head of the pile, and the process being repeated +eighty times in the minute, the pile was sent home with a rapidity +that was quite marvellous compared with the old-fashioned system. In +forming coffer-dams for the piers and abutments of bridges, quays, +and harbours, and in piling the foundations of all kinds of masonry, +the steam pile driver was found of invaluable use by the engineer. At +the first experiment made with the machine, Mr. Nasmyth drove a +14-inch pile fifteen feet into hard ground at the rate of 65 blows a +minute. The driver was first used in forming the great steam dock at +Devonport, where the results were very striking; and it was shortly +after employed by Robert Stephenson in piling the foundations of the +great High Level Bridge at Newcastle, and the Border Bridge at +Berwick, as well as in several other of his great works. The saving +of time effected by this machine was very remarkable, the ratio being +as 1 to 1800; that is, a pile could be driven in four minutes that +before required twelve hours. One of the peculiar features of the +invention was that of employing the pile itself as the support of the +steam-hammer part of the apparatus while it was being driven, so that +the pile had the percussive action of the dead weight of the hammer +as well as its lively blows to induce it to sink into the ground. The +steam-hammer sat as it were on the shoulders of the pile, while it +dealt forth its ponderous blows on the pile-head at the rate of 80 a +minute, and as the pile sank, the hammer followed it down with never +relaxing activity until it was driven home to the required depth. One +of the most ingenious contrivances employed in the driver, which was +also adopted in the hammer, was the use of steam as a buffer in the +upper part of the cylinder, which had the effect of a recoil spring, +and greatly enhanced the force of the downward blow. + +In 1846, Mr. Nasmyth designed a form of steam-engine after that of +his steam-hammer, which has been extensively adopted all over the +world for screw-ships of all sizes. The pyramidal form of this +engine, its great simplicity and GET-AT-ABILITY of parts, together +with the circumstance that all the weighty parts of the engine are +kept low, have rendered it a universal favourite. Among the other +labour-saving tools invented by Mr. Nasmyth, may be mentioned the +well-known planing machine for small work, called "Nasmyth's Steam +Arm," now used in every large workshop. It was contrived for the +purpose of executing a large order for locomotives received from the +Great Western Railway, and was found of great use in accelerating the +work, especially in planing the links, levers, connecting rods, and +smaller kinds of wrought-iron work in those engines. His circular +cutter for toothed wheels was another of his handy inventions, which +shortly came into general use. In iron-founding also he introduced a +valuable practical improvement. The old mode of pouring the molten +metal into the moulds was by means of a large ladle with one or two +cross handles and levers; but many dreadful accidents occurred +through a slip of the hand, and Mr. Nasmyth resolved, if possible, to +prevent them. The plan he adopted was to fix a worm-wheel on the side +of the ladle, into which a worm was geared, and by this simple +contrivance one man was enabled to move the largest ladle on its axis +with perfect ease and safety. By this means the work was more +promptly performed, and accidents entirely avoided. + +Mr. Nasmyth's skill in invention was backed by great energy and a +large fund of common sense--qualities not often found united. These +proved of much service to the concern of which he was the head, and +indeed constituted the vital force. The firm prospered as it +deserved; and they executed orders not only for England, but for most +countries in the civilized world. Mr. Nasmyth had the advantage of +being trained in a good school--that of Henry Maudslay--where he +had not only learnt handicraft under the eye of that great mechanic, +but the art of organizing labour, and (what is of great value to an +employer) knowledge of the characters of workmen. Yet the Nasmyth +firm were not without their troubles as respected the mechanics in +their employment, and on one occasion they had to pass through the +ordeal of a very formidable strike. The manner in which the inventor +of the steam-hammer literally "Scotched" this strike was very +characteristic. + +A clever young man employed by the firm as a brass founder, being +found to have a peculiar capacity for skilled mechanical work, had +been advanced to the lathe. The other men objected to his being so +employed on the ground that it was against the rules of the trade. +"But he is a first-rate workman," replied the employers, "and we +think it right to advance a man according to his conduct and his +merits." "No matter," said the workmen, "it is against the rules, and +if you do not take the man from the lathe, we must turn out." "Very +well; we hold to our right of selecting the best men for the best +places, and we will not take the man from the lathe." The consequence +was a general turn out. Pickets were set about the works, and any +stray men who went thither to seek employment were waylaid, and if +not induced to turn back, were maltreated or annoyed until they were +glad to leave. The works were almost at a standstill. This state of +things could not be allowed to go on, and the head of the firm +bestirred himself accordingly with his usual energy. He went down to +Scotland, searched all the best mechanical workshops there, and after +a time succeeded in engaging sixty-four good hands. He forbade them +coming by driblets, but held them together until there was a full +freight; and then they came, with their wives, families, chests of +drawers, and eight-day clocks, in a steamboat specially hired for +their transport from Greenock to Liverpool. From thence they came by +special train to Patricroft, where houses were in readiness for their +reception. The arrival of so numerous, well-dressed, and respectable +a corps of workmen and their families was an event in the +neighbourhood, and could not fail to strike the "pickets" with +surprise. Next morning the sixty-four Scotchmen assembled in the yard +at Patricroft, and after giving "three cheers," went quietly to their +work. The "picketing" went on for a little while longer, but it was +of no use against a body of strong men who stood "shouther to +shouther," as the new hands did. It was even bruited about that there +were more trains to follow!" It very soon became clear that the back +of the strike was broken. The men returned to their work, and the +clever brass founder continued at his turning-lathe, from which he +speedily rose to still higher employment. + +Notwithstanding the losses and suffering occasioned by strikes, Mr. +Nasmyth holds the opinion that they have on the whole produced much +more good than evil. They have served to stimulate invention in an +extraordinary degree. Some of the most important labour-saving +processes now in common use are directly traceable to them. In the +case of many of our most potent self-acting tools and machines, +manufacturers could not be induced to adopt them until compelled to +do so by strikes. This was the ease with the self-acting mule, the +wool-combing machine, the planing machine, the slotting machine, +Nasmyth's steam arm, and many others. Thus, even in the mechanical +world, there may be "a soul of goodness in things evil." + +Mr. Nasmyth retired from business in December, 1856. He had the moral +courage to come out of the groove which he had so laboriously made +for himself, and to leave a large and prosperous business, saying, "I +have now enough of this world's goods; let younger men have their +chance." He settled down at his rural retreat in Kent, but not to +lead a life of idle ease. Industry had become his habit, and active +occupation was necessary to his happiness. He fell back upon the +cultivation of those artistic tastes which are the heritage of his +family. When a boy at the High School of Edinburgh, he was so skilful +in making pen and ink illustrations on the margins of the classics, +that he thus often purchased from his monitors exemption from the +lessons of the day. Nor had he ceased to cultivate the art during his +residence at Patricroft, but was accustomed to fall back upon it for +relaxation and enjoyment amid the pursuits of trade. That he +possesses remarkable fertility of imagination, and great skill in +architectural and landscape drawing, as well as in the much more +difficult art of delineating the human figure, will be obvious to any +one who has seen his works,--more particularly his "City of St. +Ann's," "The Fairies," and "Everybody for ever!" which last was +exhibited in Pall Mail, among the recent collection of works of Art +by amateurs and others, for relief of the Lancashire distress. He has +also brought his common sense to bear on such unlikely subject's as +the origin of the cuneiform character. The possession of a brick from +Babylon set him a thinking. How had it been manufactured? Its under +side was clearly marked by the sedges of the Euphrates upon which it +had been laid to dry and bake in the sun. But how about those curious +cuneiform characters? How had writing assumed so remarkable a form? +His surmise was this: that the brickmakers, in telling their tale of +bricks, used the triangular corner of another brick, and by pressing +it down upon the soft clay, left behind it the triangular mark which +the cuneiform character exhibits. Such marks repeated, and placed in +different relations to each other, would readily represent any +number. From the use of the corner of a brick in writing, the +transition was easy to a pointed stick with a triangular end, by the +use of which all the cuneiform characters can readily be produced +upon the soft clay. This curious question formed the subject of an +interesting paper read by Mr. Nasmyth before the British Association +at Cheltenham. + +But the most engrossing of Mr. Nasmyth's later pursuits has been the +science of astronomy, in which, by bringing a fresh, original mind to +the observation of celestial phenomena, he has succeeded in making +some of the most remarkable discoveries of our time. Astronomy was +one of his favourite pursuits at Patricroft, and on his retirement +became his serious study. By repeated observations with a powerful +reflecting telescope of his own construction, he succeeded in making +a very careful and minute painting of the craters, cracks, mountains, +and valleys in the moon's surface, for which a Council Medal was +awarded him at the Great Exhibition of 1851. But the most striking +discovery which he has made by means of big telescope--the result +of patient, continuous, and energetic observation--has been that of +the nature of the sun's surface, and the character of the +extraordinary light-giving bodies, apparently possessed of voluntary +motion, moving across it, sometimes forming spots or hollows of more +than a hundred thousand miles in diameter. + +The results of these observations were of so novel a character that +astronomers for some time hesitated to receive them as facts.* + [footnote... +See Memoirs of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester, +3rd series, vol.1. 407. + ...] +Yet so eminent an astronomer as Sir John Herschel does not hesitate +now to describe them as "a most wonderful discovery." "According to +Mr. Nasmyth's observations," says he, "made with a very fine +telescope of his own making, the bright surface of the sun consists +of separate, insulated, individual objects or things, all nearly or +exactly of one certain definite size and shape, which is more like +that of a willow leaf, as he describes them, than anything else. +These leaves or scales are not arranged in any order (as those on a +butterfly's wing are), but lie crossing one another in all +directions, like what are called spills in the game of spillikins; +except at the borders of a spot, where they point for the most part +inwards towards the middle of the spot,* + [footnote... +Sir John Herschel adds, "Spots of not very irregular, and what may be +called compact form, covering an area of between seven and eight +hundred millions of square miles, are by no means uncommon. One spot +which I measured in the year 1837 occupied no less than three +thousand seven hundred and eighty millions, taking in all the +irregularities of its form; and the black space or nucleus in the +middle of one very nearly round one would have allowed the earth to +drop through it, leaving a thousand clear miles on either side; and +many instances of much larger spots than these are on record." + ...] +presenting much the sort of appearance that the small leaves of some +water-plants or sea-weeds do at the edge of a deep hole of clear +water. The exceedingly definite shape of these objects, their exact +similarity one to another, and the way in which they lie across and +athwart each other (except where they form a sort of bridge across a +spot, in which case they seem to affect a common direction, that, +namely, of the bridge itself),--all these characters seem quite +repugnant to the notion of their being of a vaporous, a cloudy, or a +fluid nature. Nothing remains but to consider them as separate and +independent sheets, flakes, or scales, having some sort of solidity. +And these flakes, be they what they may, and whatever may be said +about the dashing of meteoric stones into the sun's atmosphere, &c., +are evidently THE IMMEDIATE SOURCES OF THE SOLAR LIGHT AND HEAT, by +whatever mechanism or whatever processes they may be enabled to +develope and, as it were, elaborate these elements from the bosom of +the non-luminous fluid in which they appear to float. Looked at in +this point of view, we cannot refuse to regard them as organisms of +some peculiar and amazing kind; and though it would be too daring to +speak of such organization as partaking of the nature of life, yet we +do know that vital action is competent to develop heat and light, as +well as electricity. These wonderful objects have been seen by others +as well as Mr. Nasmyth, so that them is no room to doubt of their +reality."* + [footnote... +SIR JOHN HERSCHEL in Good Words for April, 1863. + ...] + +Such is the marvellous discovery made by the inventor of the +steam-hammer, as described by the most distinguished astronomer of +the age. A writer in the Edinburgh Review, referring to the subject +in a recent number, says it shows him "to possess an intellect as +profound as it is expert." Doubtless his training as a mechanic, his +habits of close observation and his ready inventiveness, which +conferred so much power on him as an engineer, proved of equal +advantage to him when labouring in the domain of physical science. +Bringing a fresh mind, of keen perception, to his new studies, and +uninfluenced by preconceived opinions, he saw them in new and +original lights; and hence the extraordinary discovery above +described by Sir John Herschel. + +Some two hundred years since, a member of the Nasmyth family, Jean +Nasmyth of Hamilton, was burnt for a witch--one of the last martyrs +to ignorance and superstition in Scotland--because she read her +Bible with two pairs of spectacles. Had Mr. Nasmyth himself lived +then, he might, with his two telescopes of his own making, which +bring the sun and moon into his chamber for him to examine and paint, +have been taken for a sorcerer. But fortunately for him, and still +more so for us, Mr. Nasmyth stands before the public of this age as +not only one of its ablest mechanics, but as one of the most +accomplished and original of scientific observers. + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. + +"In science there is work for all hands, more or less skilled; and he +is usually the most fit to occupy the higher posts who has risen from +the ranks, and has experimentally acquainted himself with the nature +of the work to be done in each and every, even the humblest +department." J. D. Forbes. + + +The development of the mechanical industry of England has been so +rapid, especially as regards the wonders achieved by the +machine-tools above referred to, that it may almost be said to have +been accomplished within the life of the present generation. "When I +first entered this city, said Mr.Fairbairn, in his inaugural address +as President of the British Association at Manchester in 1861, "the +whole of the machinery was executed by hand. There were neither +planing, slotting, nor shaping machines; and, with the exception of +very imperfect lathes and a few drills, the preparatory operations of +construction were effected entirely by the hands of the workmen. Now, +everything is done by machine-tools with a degree of accuracy which +the unaided hand could never accomplish. The automaton or self-acting +machine-tool has within itself an almost creative power; in fact, so +great are its powers of adaptation, that there is no operation of the +human hand that it does not imitate." In a letter to the author, Mr. +Fairbairn says, "The great pioneers of machine-tool-making were +Maudslay, Murray of Leeds, Clement and Fox of Derby, who were ably +followed by Nasmyth, Roberts, and Whitworth, of Manchester, and Sir +Peter Fairbairn of Leeds; and Mr. Fairbairn might well have added, by +himself,--for he has been one of the most influential and successful +of mechanical engineers. + +William Fairbairn was born at Kelso on the 19th of February, 1787. +His parents occupied a humble but respectable position in life. His +father, Andrew Fairbairn, was the son of a gardener in the employment +of Mr. Baillie of Mellerston, and lived at Smailholm, a village lying +a few miles west of Kelso. Tracing the Fairbairns still further back, +we find several of them occupying the station of "portioners," or +small lairds, at Earlston on the Tweed, where the family had been +settled since the days of the Solemn League and Covenant. By his +mother's side, the subject of our memoir is supposed to be descended +from the ancient Border family of Douglas. + +While Andrew Fairbairn (William's father) lived at Smailholm, Walter +Scott was living with his grandmother in Smailholm or Sandyknowe +Tower, whither he had been sent from Edinburgh in the hope that +change of air would help the cure of his diseased hip-joint; and +Andrew, being nine years his senior, and a strong youth for his age, +was accustomed to carry the little patient about in his arms, until +he was able to walk by himself. At a later period, when Miss Scott, +Walter's aunt, removed from Smailholm to Kelso, the intercourse +between the families was renewed. Scott was then an Edinburgh +advocate, engaged in collecting materials for his Minstrelsy of the +Scottish Border, or, as his aunt described his pursuit, "running +after the auld wives of the country gatherin' havers." He used +frequently to read over by the fireside in the evening the results of +his curious industry, which, however, were not very greatly +appreciated by his nearest relatives; and they did not scruple to +declare that for the "Advocate" to go about collecting "ballants" was +mere waste of time as well as money. + +William Fairbairn's first schoolmaster was a decrepit old man who +went by the name of "Bowed Johnnie Ker,"--a Cameronian, with a nasal +twang, which his pupils learnt much more readily than they did his +lessons in reading and arithmetic, notwithstanding a liberal use of +"the tawse." Yet Johnnie had a taste for music, and taught his pupils +to SING their reading lessons, which was reckoned quite a novelty in +education. After a short time our scholar was transferred to the +parish-school of the town, kept by a Mr. White, where he was placed +under the charge of a rather severe helper, who, instead of the +tawse, administered discipline by means of his knuckles, hard as +horn, which he applied with a peculiar jerk to the crania of his +pupils. At this school Willie Fairbairn lost the greater part of the +singing accomplishments which he had acquired under "Bowed Johnnie," +but he learnt in lieu of them to read from Scott and Barrow's +collections of prose and poetry, while he obtained some knowledge of +arithmetic, in which he proceeded as far as practice and the rule of +three. This constituted his whole stock of school-learning up to his +tenth year. Out of school-hours he learnt to climb the ruined walls +of the old abbey of the town, and there was scarcely an arch, or +tower, or cranny of it with which he did not become familiar. + +When in his twelfth year, his father, who had been brought up to +farm-work, and possessed considerable practical knowledge of +agriculture, was offered the charge of a farm at Moy in Ross-shire, +belonging to Lord Seaforth of Brahan Castle. The farm was of about +300 acres, situated on the banks of the river Conan, some five miles +from the town of Dingwall. The family travelled thither in a covered +cart, a distance of 200 miles, through a very wild and hilly country, +arriving at their destination at the end of October, 1799. The farm, +when reached, was found overgrown with whins and brushwood, and +covered in many places with great stones and rocks; it was, in short, +as nearly in a state of nature as it was possible to be. The house +intended for the farmer's reception was not finished, and Andrew +Fairbairn, with his wife and five children, had to take temporary +refuge in a miserable hovel, very unlike the comfortable house which +they had quitted at Kelso. By next spring, however, the new house was +ready; and Andrew Fairbairn set vigorously to work at the reclamation +of the land. After about two years' labours it exhibited an +altogether different appearance, and in place of whins and stones +there were to be seen heavy crops of barley and turnips. The barren +years of 1800 and 1801, however, pressed very hardly on Andrew +Fairbairn as on every other farmer of arable land. About that time, +Andrew's brother Peter, who acted as secretary to Lord Seaforth, and +through whose influence the former had obtained the farm, left Brahan +Castle for the West Indies with his Lordship, who--notwithstanding +his being both deaf and dumb -- had been appointed to the +Governorship of Barbadoes; and in consequence of various difficulties +which occurred shortly after his leaving, Andrew Fairbairn found it +necessary to give up his holding, whereupon he engaged as steward to +Mackenzie of Allengrange, with whom he remained for two years. + +While the family lived at Moy, none of the boys were put to school. +They could not be spared from the farm and the household. Those of +them that could not work afield were wanted to help to nurse the +younger children at home. But Andrew Fairbairn possessed a great +treasure in his wife, who was a woman of much energy of character, +setting before her children an example of patient industry, thrift, +discreetness, and piety, which could not fail to exercise a powerful +influence upon them in after-life; and this, of itself, was an +education which probably far more than compensated for the boys' loss +of school-culture during their life at Moy. Mrs. Fairbairn span and +made all the children's clothes, as well as the blankets and +sheeting; and, while in the Highlands, she not only made her own and +her daughters' dresses, and her sons' jackets and trowsers, but her +husband's coats and waistcoats; besides helping her neighbours to cut +out their clothing for family wear. + +One of William's duties at home was to nurse his younger brother +Peter, then a delicate child under two years old; and to relieve +himself of the labour of carrying him about, he began the +construction of a little waggon in which to wheel him. This was, +however, a work of some difficulty, as all the tools he possessed +were only a knife, a gimlet, and an old saw. With these implements, a +piece of thin board, and a few nails, he nevertheless contrived to +make a tolerably serviceable waggon-body. His chief difficulty +consisted in making the wheels, which he contrived to surmount by +cutting sections from the stem of a small alder-tree, and with a +red-hot poker he bored the requisite holes in their centres to +receive the axle. The waggon was then mounted on its four wheels, and +to the great joy of its maker was found to answer its purpose +admirably. In it he wheeled his little brother--afterwards well known +as Sir Peter Fairbairn, mayor of Leeds -- in various directions about +the farm, and sometimes to a considerable distance from it; and the +vehicle was regarded on the whole as a decided success. His father +encouraged him in his little feats of construction of a similar kind, +and he proceeded to make and rig miniature boats and ships, and then +miniature wind and water mills, in which last art he acquired such +expertness that he had sometimes five or six mills going at a time. +The machinery was all made with a knife, the water-spouts being +formed by the bark of a tree, and the millstones represented by round +discs of the same material. Such were the first constructive efforts +of the future millwright and engineer. + +When the family removed to Allengrange in 1801, the boys were sent to +school at Munlachy, about a mile and a half distant from the farm. +The school was attended by about forty barefooted boys in tartan +kilt's, and about twenty girls, all of the poorer class. The +schoolmaster was one Donald Frazer, a good teacher, but a severe +disciplinarian. Under him, William made some progress in reading, +writing, and arithmetic; and though he himself has often lamented the +meagreness of his school instruction, it is clear, from what he has +since been enabled to accomplish, that these early lessons were +enough at all events to set him fairly on the road of self-culture, +and proved the fruitful seed of much valuable intellectual labour, as +well as of many excellent practical books. + +After two years' trial of his new situation, which was by no means +satisfactory, Andrew Fairbairn determined again to remove southward +with his family; and, selling off everything, they set sail from +Cromarty for Leith in June, 1803. Having seen his wife and children +temporarily settled at Kelso, he looked out for a situation, and +shortly after proceeded to undertake the management of Sir William +Ingleby's farm at Ripley in Yorkshire. Meanwhile William was placed +for three months under the charge of his uncle William, the parish +schoolmaster of Galashiels, for the purpose of receiving instruction +in book-keeping and land-surveying, from which he derived +considerable benefit. He could not, however, remain longer at school; +for being of the age of fourteen, it was thought necessary that he +should be set to work without further delay. His first employment was +on the fine new bridge at Kelso, then in course of construction after +the designs of Mr. Rennie; but in helping one day to carry a +handbarrow-load of stone, his strength proving insufficient, he gave +way under it, and the stones fell upon him, one of them inflicting a +serious wound on his leg, which kept him a cripple for months. In the +mean time his father, being dissatisfied with his prospects at +Ripley, accepted the appointment of manager of the Percy Main +Colliery Company's farm in the neighbourhood of Newcastle-on-Tyne, +whither he proceeded with his family towards the end of 1803, William +joining them in the following February, when the wound in his leg had +sufficiently healed to enable him to travel. + +Percy Main is situated within two miles of North Shields, and is one +of the largest collieries in that district. William was immediately +set to work at the colliery, his first employment being to lead coals +from behind the screen to the pitmen's houses. His Scotch accent, and +perhaps his awkwardness, exposed him to much annoyance from the "pit +lads," who were a very rough and profligate set; and as boxing was a +favourite pastime among them, our youth had to fight his way to their +respect, passing through a campaign of no less than seventeen pitched +battles. He was several times on the point of abandoning the work +altogether, rather than undergo the buffetings and insults to which +he was almost a daily martyr, when a protracted contest with one of +the noted boxers of the colliery, in which he proved the victor, at +length relieved him from further persecution. + +In the following year, at the age of sixteen, he was articled as an +engineer for five years to the owners of Percy Main, and was placed +under the charge of Mr. Robinson, the engine-wright of the colliery. +His wages as apprentice were 8s. a week; but by working over-hours, +making wooden wedges used in pit-work, and blocking out segments of +solid oak required for walling the sides of the mine, he considerably +increased his earnings, which enabled him to add to the gross income +of the family, who were still struggling with the difficulties of +small means and increasing expenses. When not engaged upon over-work +in the evenings, he occupied himself in self-education. He drew up a +scheme of daily study with this object, to which he endeavoured to +adhere as closely as possible,-- devoting the evenings of Mondays to +mensuration and arithmetic; Tuesdays to history and poetry; +Wednesdays to recreation, novels, and romances; Thursdays to algebra +and mathematics; Fridays to Euclid and trigonometry; Saturdays to +recreation; and Sundays to church, Milton, and recreation. He was +enabled to extend the range of his reading by the help of the North +Shields Subscription Library, to which his father entered him a +subscriber. Portions of his spare time were also occasionally devoted +to mechanical construction, in which he cultivated the useful art of +handling tools. One of his first attempts was the contrivance of a +piece of machinery worked by a weight and a pendulum, that should at +the same time serve for a timepiece and an orrery; but his want of +means, as well as of time, prevented him prosecuting this contrivance +to completion. He was more successful with the construction of a +fiddle, on which he was ambitious to become a performer. It must have +been a tolerable instrument, for a professional player offered him +20s. for it. But though he succeeded in making a fiddle, and for some +time persevered in the attempt to play upon it, he did not succeed in +producing any satisfactory melody, and at length gave up the attempt, +convinced that nature had not intended him for a musician.* + [footnote... +Long after, when married and settled at Manchester, the fiddle, which +had been carefully preserved, was taken down from the shelf for the +amusement of the children; but though they were well enough pleased +with it, the instrument was never brought from its place without +creating alarm in the mind of their mother lest anybody should hear +it. At length a dancing-master, who was giving lessons in the +neighbourhood, borrowed the fiddle, and, to the great relief of the +family, it was never returned. Many years later Mr.Fairbairn was +present at the starting of a cotton mill at Wesserling in Alsace +belonging to Messrs. Gros, Deval, and Co., for which his Manchester +firm had provided the mill-work and water-wheel (the first erected in +France on the suspension principle, when the event was followed by an +entertainment. During dinner Mr. Fairbairn had been explaining to M. +Gros, who spoke a little English, the nature of home-brewed beer, +which he much admired, having tasted it when in England. The dinner +was followed by music, in the performance of which the host himself +took part; and on Mr. Fairbairn's admiring his execution on the +violin, M. Gros asked him if he played. "A little," was the almost +unconscious reply. "Then you must have the goodness to play some," +and the instrument was in a moment placed in his hands, amidst urgent +requests from all sides that he should play. There was no +alternative; so he proceeded to perform one of his best tunes--"The +Keel Row." The company listened with amazement, until the performer's +career was suddenly cut short by the host exclaiming at the top of +his voice, "Stop, stop, Monsieur, by gar that be HOME-BREWED MUSIC!" + ...] + +In due course of time our young engineer was removed from the +workshop, and appointed to take charge of the pumps of the mine and +the steam-engine by which they were kept in work. This employment was +more to his taste, gave him better "insight," and afforded him +greater opportunities for improvement. The work was, however, very +trying, and at times severe, especially in winter, the engineer being +liable to be drenched with water every time that he descended the +shaft to regulate the working of the pumps; but, thanks to a stout +constitution, he bore through these exposures without injury, though +others sank under them. At this period he had the advantage of +occasional days of leisure, to which he was entitled by reason of his +nightwork; and during such leisure he usually applied himself to +reading and study. + +It was about this time that William Fairbairn made the acquaintance +of George Stephenson, while the latter was employed in working the +ballast-engine at Willington Quay. He greatly admired George as a +workman, and was accustomed in the summer evenings to go over to the +Quay occasionally and take charge of George's engine, to enable him +to earn a few shillings extra by heaving ballast out of the collier +vessels. Stephenson's zeal in the pursuit of mechanical knowledge +probably was not without its influence in stimulating William +Fairbairn himself to carry on so diligently the work of self-culture. +But little could the latter have dreamt, while serving his +apprenticeship at Percy Main, that his friend George Stephenson, the +brakesman, should yet be recognised as among the greatest engineers +of his age, and that he himself should have the opportunity, in his +capacity of President of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers at +Newcastle, of making public acknowledgment of the opportunities for +education which he had enjoyed in that neighbourhood in his early +years.* + [footnote... +"Although not a native of Newcastle," he then said, "he owed almost +everything to Newcastle. He got the rudiments of his education there, +such as it was; and that was (something like that of his revered +predecessor George Stephenson) at a colliery. He was brought up as an +engineer at the Percy Main Colliery. He was there seven years; and if +it had not been for the opportunities he then enjoyed, together with +the use of the library at North Shields, he believed he would not +have been there to address them. Being self-taught, but with some +little ambition, and a determination to improve himself, he was now +enabled to stand before them with some pretensions to mechanical +knowledge, and the persuasion that he had been a useful contributor +to practical science and objects connected with mechanical +engineering."--Meeting of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers at +Newcastle-on-Tyne, 1858. + ...] + +Having finished his five years' apprenticeship at Percy Main, by +which time he had reached his twenty-first year, William Fairbairn +shortly after determined to go forth into the world in search of +experience. At Newcastle he found employment as a millwright for a +few weeks, during which he worked at the erection of a sawmill in the +Close. From thence he went to Bedlington at an advanced wage. He +remained there for six months, during which he was so fortunate as to +make the acquaintance of Miss Mar, who five years after, when his +wanderings had ceased, became his wife. On the completion of the job +on which he had been employed, our engineer prepared to make another +change. Work was difficult to be had in the North, and, joined by a +comrade, he resolved to try his fortune in London. Adopting the +cheapest route, he took passage by a Shields collier, in which he +sailed for the Thames on the 11th of December, 1811. It was then +war-time, and the vessel was very short-handed, the crew consisting +only of three old men and three boys, with the skipper and mate; so +that the vessel was no sooner fairly at sea than both the passenger +youths had to lend a hand in working her, and this continued for the +greater part of the voyage. The weather was very rough, and in +consequence of the captain's anxiety to avoid privateers he hugged +the shore too close, and when navigating the inside passage of the +Swin, between Yarmouth and the Nore, the vessel very narrowly escaped +shipwreck. After beating about along shore, the captain half drunk +the greater part of the time, the vessel at last reached the Thames +with loss of spars and an anchor, after a tedious voyage of fourteen +days. + +On arriving off Blackwall the captain went ashore ostensibly in +search of the Coal Exchange, taking our young engineer with him. The +former was still under the influence of drink; and though he failed +to reach the Exchange that night, he succeeded in reaching a public +house in Wapping, beyond which he could not be got. At ten o'clock +the two started on their return to the ship; but the captain took the +opportunity of the darkness to separate from his companion, and did +not reach the ship until next morning. It afterwards came out that he +had been taken up and lodged in the watch-house. The youth, left +alone in the streets of the strange city, felt himself in an awkward +dilemma. He asked the next watchman he met to recommend him to a +lodging, on which the man took him to a house in New Gravel Lane, +where he succeeded in finding accommodation. What was his horror next +morning to learn that a whole family--the Williamsons--had been +murdered in the very next house during the night! Making the best of +his way back to the ship, he found that his comrade, who had suffered +dreadfully from sea-sickness during the voyage, had nearly recovered, +and was able to accompany him into the City in search of work. They +had between them a sum of only about eight pounds, so that it was +necessary for them to take immediate steps to obtain employment. + +They thought themselves fortunate in getting the promise of a job +from Mr. Rennie, the celebrated engineer, whose works were situated +at the south end of Blackfriars Bridge. Mr. Rennie sent the two young +men to his foreman, with the request that he should set them to work. +The foreman referred them to the secretary of the Millwrights' +Society, the shop being filled with Union men, who set their +shoulders together to exclude those of their own grade, however +skilled, who could not produce evidence that they had complied with +the rules of the trade. Describing his first experience of London +Unionists, nearly half a century later, before an assembly of working +men at Derby, Mr. Fairbairn said, "When I first entered London, a +young man from the country had no chance whatever of success, in +consequence of the trade guilds and unions. I had no difficulty in +finding employment, but before I could begin work I had to run the +gauntlet of the trade societies; and after dancing attendance for +nearly six weeks, with very little money in my pocket, and having to +'box Harry' all the time, I was ultimately declared illegitimate, and +sent adrift to seek my fortune elsewhere. There were then three +millwright societies in London: one called the Old Society, another +the New Society, and a third the Independent Society. These societies +were not founded for the protection of the trade, but for the +maintenance of high wages, and for the exclusion of all those who +could not assert their claims to work in London and other corporate +towns. Laws of a most arbitrary character were enforced, and they +were governed by cliques of self-appointed officers, who never failed +to take care of their own interests."* + [footnote... +Useful Information for Engineers, 2nd series, 1860, p. 211. + ...] + +Their first application for leave to work in London having thus +disastrously ended, the two youths determined to try their fortune in +the country, and with aching hearts they started next morning before +daylight. Their hopes had been suddenly crushed, their slender funds +were nearly exhausted, and they scarce knew where to turn. But they +set their faces bravely northward, and pushed along the high road, +through slush and snow, as far as Hertford, which they reached after +nearly eight hours' walking, on the moderate fare during their +journey of a penny roll and a pint of ale each. Though wet to the +skin, they immediately sought out a master millwright, and applied +for work. He said he had no job vacant at present; but, seeing their +sorry plight, he had compassion upon them, and said, "Though I cannot +give you employment, you seem to be two nice lads;" and he concluded +by offering Fairbairn a half-crown. But his proud spirit revolted at +taking money which he had not earned; and he declined the proffered +gift with thanks, saying he was sorry they could not have work. He +then turned away from the door, on which his companion, mortified by +his refusal to accept the half-crown at a time when they were reduced +almost to their last penny, broke out in bitter remonstrances and +regrets. Weary, wet, and disheartened, the two turned into Hertford +churchyard, and rested for a while upon a tombstone, Fairbairn's +companion relieving himself by a good cry, and occasional angry +outbursts of "Why didn't you take the half-crown?" "Come, come, man!" +said Fairbairn, "it's of no use crying; cheer up; let's try another +road; something must soon cast up." They rose, and set out again, but +when they reached the bridge, the dispirited youth again broke down; +and, leaning his back against the parapet, said, "I winna gang a bit +further; let's get back to London." Against this Fairbairn +remonstrated, saying "It's of no use lamenting; we must try what we +can do here; if the worst comes to the worst, we can 'list; you are a +strong chap--they'll soon take you; and as for me, I'll join too; I +think I could fight a bit." After this council of war, the pair +determined to find lodgings in the town for the night, and begin +their search for work anew on the morrow. + +Next day, when passing along one of the back streets of Hertford, +they came to a wheelwright's shop, where they made the usual +enquiries. The wheelwright, said that he did not think there was any +job to be had in the town; but if the two young men pushed on to +Cheshunt, he thought they might find work at a windmill which was +under contract to be finished in three weeks, and where the +millwright wanted hands. Here was a glimpse of hope at last; and the +strength and spirits of both revived in an instant. They set out +immediately; walked the seven miles to Cheshunt; succeeded in +obtaining the expected employment; worked at the job a fortnight; and +entered London again with nearly three pounds in their pockets. + +Our young millwright at length succeeded in obtaining regular +employment in the metropolis at good wages. He worked first at +Grundy's Patent Ropery at Shadwell, and afterwards at Mr. Penn's of +Greenwich, gaining much valuable insight, and sedulously improving +his mind by study in his leisure hours. Among the acquaintances he +then made was an enthusiastic projector of the name of Hall, who had +taken out one patent for making hemp from bean-stalks, and +contemplated taking out another for effecting spade tillage by steam. +The young engineer was invited to make the requisite model, which he +did, and it cost him both time and money, which the out-at-elbows +projector was unable to repay; and all that came of the project was +the exhibition of the model at the Society of Arts and before the +Board of Agriculture, in whose collection it is probably still to be +found. Another more successful machine constructed By Mr. Fairbairn +about the same time was a sausage-chopping machine, which he +contrived and made for a pork-butcher for 33l. It was the first order +he had ever had on his own account; and, as the machine when made did +its work admirably, he was naturally very proud of it. The machine +was provided with a fly-wheel and double crank, with connecting rods +which worked a cross head. It contained a dozen knives crossing each +other at right angles in such a way as to enable them to mince or +divide the meat on a revolving block. Another part of the apparatus +accomplished the filling of the sausages in a very expert manner, to +the entire satisfaction of the pork-butcher. + +As work was scarce in London at the time, and our engineer was bent +on gathering further experience in his trade, he determined to make a +tour in the South of England and South Wales; and set out from London +in April 1813 with 7l. in his pocket. After visiting Bath and Frome, +he settled to work for six weeks at Bathgate; after which he +travelled by Bradford and Trowbridge --- always on foot--to Bristol. +From thence he travelled through South Wales, spending a few days +each at Newport, Llandaff, and Cardiff, where he took ship for +Dublin. By the time he reached Ireland his means were all but +exhausted, only three-halfpence remaining in his pocket; but, being +young, hopeful, skilful, and industrious, he was light of heart, and +looked cheerfully forward. The next day he succeeded in finding +employment at Mr. Robinson's, of the Phoenix Foundry, where he was +put to work at once upon a set of patterns for some nail-machinery. +Mr. Robinson was a man of spirit and enterprise, and, seeing the +quantities of English machine-made nails imported into Ireland, he +was desirous of giving Irish industry the benefit of the manufacture. +The construction of the nail-making machinery occupied Mr. Fairbairn +the entire summer; and on its completion he set sail in the month of +October for Liverpool. It may be added, that, notwithstanding the +expense incurred by Mr. Robinson in setting up the new +nail-machinery, his workmen threatened him with a strike if he +ventured to use it. As he could not brave the opposition of the +Unionists, then all-powerful in Dublin, the machinery was never set +to work; the nail-making trade left Ireland, never to return; and the +Irish market was thenceforward supplied entirely with English-made +nails. The Dublin iron-manufacture was ruined in the same way; not +through any local disadvantages, but solely by the prohibitory +regulations enforced by the workmen of the Trades Unions. + +Arrived at Liverpool, after a voyage of two days--which was then +considered a fair passage--our engineer proceeded to Manchester, +which had already become the principal centre of manufacturing +operations in the North of England. As we have already seen in the +memoirs of Nasmyth, Roberts, and Whitworth, Manchester offered great +attractions for highly-skilled mechanics; and it was as fortunate for +Manchester as for William Fairbairn himself that he settled down +there as a working millwright in the year 1814, bringing with him no +capital, but an abundance of energy, skill, and practical experience +in his trade. Afterwards describing the characteristics of the +millwright of that time, Mr, Fairbairn said--"In those days a good +millwright was a man of large resources; he was generally well +educated, and could draw out his own designs and work at the lathe; +he had a knowledge of mill machinery, pumps, and cranes, and could +turn his hand to the bench or the forge with equal adroitness and +facility. If hard pressed, as was frequently the case in country +places far from towns, he could devise for himself expedients which +enabled him to meet special requirements, and to complete his work +without assistance. This was the class of men with whom I associated +in early life--proud of their calling, fertile in resources, and +aware of their value in a country where the industrial arts were +rapidly developing."* + [footnote... +Lecture at Derby--Useful Information for Engineers, 2nd series, p. +212. + ...] + +When William Fairbairn entered Manchester he was twenty-four years of +age; and his hat still "covered his family." But, being now pretty +well satiated with his "wandetschaft,"--as German tradesmen term +their stage of travelling in search of trade experience,--he desired +to settle, and, if fortune favoured him, to marry the object of his +affections, to whom his heart still faithfully turned during all his +wanderings. He succeeded in finding employment with Mr. Adam +Parkinson, remaining with him for two years, working as a millwright, +at good wages. Out of his earnings he saved sufficient to furnish a +two-roomed cottage comfortably; and there we find him fairly +installed with his wife by the end of 1816. As in the case of most +men of a thoughtful turn, marriage served not only to settle our +engineer, but to stimulate him to more energetic action. He now began +to aim at taking a higher position, and entertained the ambition of +beginning business on his own account. One of his first efforts in +this direction was the preparation of the design of a cast-iron +bridge over the Irwell, at Blackfriars, for which a prize was +offered. The attempt was unsuccessful, and a stone bridge was +eventually decided on; but the effort made was creditable, and proved +the beginning of many designs. The first job he executed on his own +account was the erection of an iron conservatory and hothouse for Mr. +J. Hulme, of Clayton, near Manchester; and he induced one of his +shopmates, James Lillie, to join him in the undertaking. This proved +the beginning of a business connection which lasted for a period of +fifteen years, and laid the foundation of a partnership, the +reputation of which, in connection with mill-work and the +construction of iron machinery generally, eventually became known all +over the civilized world. + +Although the patterns for the conservatory were all made, and the +castings were begun, the work was not proceeded with, in consequence +of the notice given by a Birmingham firm that the plan after which it +was proposed to construct it was an infringement of their patent. The +young firm were consequently under the necessity of looking about +them for other employment. And to be prepared for executing orders, +they proceeded in the year 1817 to hire a small shed at a rent of +l2s. a week, in which they set up a lathe of their own making, +capable of turning shafts of from 3 to 6 inches diameter; and they +hired a strong Irishman to drive the wheel and assist at the heavy +work. Their first job was the erection of a cullender, and their next +a calico-polishing machine; but orders came in slowly, and James +Lillie began to despair of success. His more hopeful partner +strenuously urged him to perseverance, and so buoyed him up with +hopes of orders, that he determined to go on a little longer. They +then issued cards among the manufacturers, and made a tour of the +principal firms, offering their services and soliciting work. + +Amongst others, Mr. Fairbairn called upon the Messrs. Adam and George +Murray, the large cotton-spinners, taking with him the designs of his +iron bridge. Mr. Adam Murray received him kindly, heard his +explanations, and invited him to call on the following day with his +partner. The manufacturer must have been favourably impressed by this +interview, for next day, when Fairbairn and Lillie called, he took +them over his mill, and asked whether they felt themselves competent +to renew with horizontal cross-shafts the whole of the work by which +the mule-spinning machinery was turned. This was a formidable +enterprise for a young firm without capital and almost without plant +to undertake; but they had confidence in themselves, and boldly +replied that they were willing and able to execute the work. On this, +Mr. Murray said he would call and see them at their own workshop, to +satisfy himself that they possessed the means of undertaking such an +order. This proposal was by no means encouraging to the partners, who +feared that when Mr. Murray spied "the nakedness of the land " in +that quarter, he might repent him of his generous intentions. He paid +his promised visit, and it is probable that he was more favourably +impressed by the individual merits of the partners than by the +excellence of their machine-tools--of which they had only one, the +lathe which they had just made and set up; nevertheless he gave them +the order, and they began with glad hearts and willing hands and +minds to execute this their first contract. It may be sufficient to +state that by working late and early--from 5 in the morning until 9 +at night for a considerable period--they succeeded in completing the +alterations within the time specified, and to Mr. Murray's entire +satisfaction. The practical skill of the young men being thus proved, +and their anxiety to execute the work entrusted to them to the best +of their ability having excited the admiration of their employer, he +took the opportunity of recommending them to his friends in the +trade, and amongst others to Mr. John Kennedy, of the firm of +MacConnel and Kennedy, then the largest spinners in the kingdom. + +The Cotton Trade had by this time sprung into great importance, and +was increasing with extraordinary rapidity. Population and wealth +were pouring into South Lancashire, and industry and enterprise were +everywhere on foot. The foundations were being laid of a system of +manufacturing in iron, machinery, and textile fabrics of nearly all +kinds, the like of which has perhaps never been surpassed in any +country. It was a race of industry, in which the prizes were won by +the swift, the strong, and the skilled. For the most part, the early +Lancashire manufacturers started very nearly equal in point of +worldly circumstances, men originally of the smallest means often +coming to the front - work men, weavers, mechanics, pedlers, farmers, +or labourers--in course of time rearing immense manufacturing +concerns by sheer force of industry, energy, and personal ability. +The description given by one of the largest employers in Lancashire, +of the capital with which he started, might apply to many of them: +"When I married," said he, "my wife had a spinning-wheel, and I had a +loom--that was the beginning of our fortune." As an illustration of +the rapid rise of Manchester men from small beginnings, the following +outline of John Kennedy's career, intimately connected as he was with +the subject of our memoir--may not be without interest in this place. + +John Kennedy was one of five young men of nearly the same age, who +came from the same neighbourhood in Scotland, and eventually settled +in Manchester as cottons-pinners about the end of last century. The +others were his brother James, his partner James MacConnel, and the +brothers Murray, above referred to--Mr. Fairbairn's first extensive +employers. John Kennedy's parents were respectable peasants, +possessed of a little bit of ground at Knocknalling, in the stewartry +of Kirkcudbright, on which they contrived to live, and that was all. +John was one of a family of five sons and two daughters, and the +father dying early, the responsibility and the toil of bringing up +these children devolved upon the mother. She was a strict +disciplinarian, and early impressed upon the minds of her boys that +they had their own way to make in the world. One of the first things +she made them think about was, the learning of some useful trade for +the purpose of securing an independent living; "for," said she, "if +you have gotten mechanical skill and intelligence, and are honest and +trustworthy, you will always find employment and be ready to avail +yourselves of opportunities for advancing yourselves in life." Though +the mother desired to give her sons the benefits of school education, +there was but little of that commodity to be had in the remote +district of Knocknalling. The parish-school was six miles distant, +and the teaching given in it was of a very inferior sort--usually +administered by students, probationers for the ministry, or by +half-fledged dominies, themselves more needing instruction than able +to impart it. The Kennedys could only attend the school during a few +months in summer-time, so that what they had acquired by the end of +one season was often forgotten by the beginning of the next. They +learnt, however, to read the Testament, say their catechism, and +write their own names. + +As the children grew up, they each longed for the time to come when +they could be put to a trade. The family were poorly clad; stockings +and shoes were luxuries rarely indulged in; and Mr. Kennedy used in +after-life to tell his grandchildren of a certain Sunday which he +remembered shortly after his father died, when he was setting out for +Dalry church, and had borrowed his brother Alexander's stockings, his +brother ran after him and cried, "See that you keep out of the dirt, +for mind you have got my stockings on!" John indulged in many +day-dreams about the world that lay beyond the valley and the +mountains which surrounded the place of his birth. Though a mere boy, +the natural objects, eternally unchangeable, which daily met his +eyes--the profound silence of the scene, broken only by the bleating +of a solitary sheep, or the crowing of a distant cock, or the +thrasher beating out with his flail the scanty grain of the black +oats spread upon a skin in the open air, or the streamlets leaping +from the rocky clefts, or the distant church-bell sounding up the +valley on Sundays-- all bred in his mind a profound melancholy and +feeling of loneliness, and he used to think to himself, "What can I +do to see and know something of the world beyond this?" The greatest +pleasure he experienced during that period was when packmen came +round with their stores of clothing and hardware, and displayed them +for sale; he eagerly listened to all that such visitors had to tell +of the ongoings of the world beyond the valley. + +The people of the Knocknalling district were very poor. The greater +part of them were unable to support the younger members, whose custom +it was to move off elsewhere in search of a living when they arrived +at working years,--some to America, some to the West Indies, and some +to the manufacturing districts of the south. Whole families took +their departure in this way, and the few friendships which Kennedy +formed amongst those of his own age were thus suddenly snapped, and +only a great blank remained. But he too could follow their example, +and enter upon that wider world in which so many others had ventured +and succeeded. As early as eight years of age, his mother still +impressing upon her boys the necessity of learning to work, John +gathered courage to say to her that he wished to leave home and +apprentice himself to some handicraft business. Having seen some +carpenters working in the neighbourhood, with good clothes on their +backs, and hearing the men's characters well spoken of, he thought it +would be a fine thing to be a carpenter too, particularly as the +occupation would enable him to move from place to place and see the +world. He was as yet, however, of too tender an age to set out on the +journey of life; but when he was about eleven years old, Adam Murray, +one of his most intimate acquaintances, having gone off to serve an +apprenticeship in Lancashire with Mr. Cannan of Chowbent, himself a +native of the district, the event again awakened in him a strong +desire to migrate from Knocknalling. Others had gone after Murray, +James MacConnel and two or three more; and at length, at about +fourteen years of age, Kennedy himself left his native home for +Lancashire. About the time that he set out, Paul Jones was ravaging +the coasts of Galloway, and producing general consternation +throughout the district. Great excitement also prevailed through the +occurrence of the Gordon riots in London, which extended into remote +country places; and Kennedy remembered being nearly frightened out of +his wits on one occasion by a poor dominie whose school he attended, +who preached to his boys about the horrors that were coming upon the +land through the introduction of Popery. The boy set out for England +on the 2nd of February, 1784, mounted upon a Galloway, his little +package of clothes and necessaries strapped behind him. As he passed +along the glen, recognising each familiar spot, his heart was in his +mouth, and he dared scarcely trust himself to look back. The ground +was covered with snow, and nature quite frozen up. He had the company +of his brother Alexander as far as the town of New Galloway, where he +slept the first night. The next day, accompanied by one of his future +masters, Mr. James Smith, a partner of Mr. Cannan's, who had +originally entered his service as a workman, they started on ponyback +for Dumfries. After a long day's ride, they entered the town in the +evening, and amongst the things which excited the boy's surprise were +the few street-lamps of the town, and a waggon with four horses and +four wheels. In his remote valley carts were as yet unknown, and even +in Dumfries itself they were comparative rarities; the common means +of transport in the district being what were called "tumbling cars." +The day after, they reached Longtown, and slept there; the boy noting +ANOTHER lamp. The next stage was to Carlisle, where Mr. Smith, whose +firm had supplied a carding engine and spinning-jenny to a small +manufacturer in the town, went to "gate" and trim them. One was put +up in a small house, the other in a small room; and the sight of +these machines was John Kennedy's first introduction to +cotton-spinning. While going up the inn-stairs he was amazed and not +a little alarmed at seeing two men in armour--he had heard of the +battles between the Scots and English--and believed these to be some +of the fighting men; though they proved to be but effigies. Five more +days were occupied in travelling southward, the resting places being +at Penrith, Kendal, Preston, and Chorley, the two travellers arriving +at Chowbent on Sunday the 8th of February, 1784. Mr. Cannan seems to +have collected about him a little colony of Scotsmen, mostly from the +same neighbourhood, and in the evening there was quite an assembly of +them at the "Bear's Paw," where Kennedy put up, to hear the tidings +from their native county brought by the last new comer. On the +following morning the boy began his apprenticeship as a carpenter +with the firm of Cannan and Smith, serving seven years for his meat +and clothing. He applied himself to his trade, and became a good, +steady workman. He was thoughtful and self-improving, always +endeavouring to acquire knowledge of new arts and to obtain insight +into new machines. "Even in early life," said he, in the account of +his career addressed to his children, "I felt a strong desire to know +what others knew, and was always ready to communicate what little I +knew myself; and by admitting at once my want of education, I found +that I often made friends of those on whom I had no claims beyond +what an ardent desire for knowledge could give me." + +His apprenticeship over, John Kennedy commenced business* + [footnote... +One of the reasons which induced Kennedy thus early to begin the +business of mule-spinning has been related as follows. While employed +as apprentice at Chowbent, he happened to sleep over the master's +apartment; and late one evening, on the latter returning from market, +his wife asked his success. "I've sold the eightys," said he, "at a +guinea a pound." "What," exclaimed the mistress, in a loud voice, +"sold the eightys for ONLY a guinea a pound! I never heard of such a +thing." The apprentice could not help overhearing the remark, and it +set him a-thinking. He knew the price of cotton and the price of +labour, and concluded there must be a very large margin of profit. So +soon as he was out of his time, therefore, he determined that he +should become a cotton spinner. + ...] +in a small way in Manchester in 1791, in conjunction with two other +workmen, Sandford and MacConnel. Their business was machine-making +and mule-spinning, Kennedy taking the direction of the machine +department. The firm at first put up their mules for spinning in any +convenient garrets they could hire at a low rental. After some time, +they took part of a small factory in Canal Street, and carried on +their business on a larger scale. Kennedy and MacConnel afterwards +occupied a little factory in the same street,--since removed to give +place to Fairbairn's large machine works. The progress of the firm +was steady and even rapid, and they went on building mills and +extending their business--Mr. Kennedy, as he advanced in life, +gathering honour, wealth, and troops of friends. Notwithstanding the +defects of his early education, he was one of the few men of his +class who became distinguished for his literary labours in connexion +principally with the cotton trade. Towards the close of his life, he +prepared several papers of great interest for the Literary and +Philosophical Society of Manchester, which are to be found printed in +their Proceedings; one of these, on the Invention of the Mule by +Samuel Crompton, was for a long time the only record which the public +possessed of the merits and claims of that distinguished inventor. +His knowledge of the history of the cotton manufacture in its various +stages, and of mechanical inventions generally, was most extensive +and accurate. Among his friends he numbered James Watt, who placed +his son in his establishment for the purpose of acquiring knowledge +and experience of his profession. At a much later period he numbered +George Stephenson among his friends, having been one of the first +directors of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, and one of the +three judges (selected because of his sound judgment and proved +impartiality, as well as his knowledge of mechanical engineering) to +adjudicate on the celebrated competition of Locomotives at Rainhill. +By these successive steps did this poor Scotch boy become one of the +leading men of Manchester, closing his long and useful life in 1855 +at an advanced age, his mental faculties remaining clear and +unclouded to the last. His departure from life was happy and +tranquil--so easy that it was for a time doubtful whether he was dead +or asleep. + +To return to Mr. Fairbairn's career, and his progress as a millwright +and engineer in Manchester. When he and his partner undertook the +extensive alterations in Mr. Murray's factory, both were in a great +measure unacquainted with the working of cotton-mills, having until +then been occupied principally with corn-mills, and printing and +bleaching works; so that an entirely new field was now opened to +their united exertions. Sedulously improving their opportunities, the +young partners not only thoroughly mastered the practical details of +cotton-mill work, but they were very shortly enabled to introduce a +series of improvements of the greatest importance in this branch of +our national manufactures. Bringing their vigorous practical minds to +bear on the subject, they at once saw that the gearing of even the +best mills was of a very clumsy and imperfect character. They found +the machinery driven by large square cast-iron shafts, on which huge +wooden drums, some of them as much as four feet in diameter, revolved +at the rate of about forty revolutions a minute; and the couplings +were so badly fitted that they might be heard creaking and groaning a +long way off. The speeds of the driving-shafts were mostly got up by +a series of straps and counter drums, which not only crowded the +rooms, but seriously obstructed the light where most required for +conducting the delicate operations of the different machines. Another +serious defect lay in the construction of the shafts, and in the mode +of fixing the couplings, which were constantly giving way, so that a +week seldom passed without one or more breaks-down. The repairs were +usually made on Sundays, which were the millwrights' hardest working +days, to their own serious moral detriment; but when trade was good, +every consideration was made to give way to the uninterrupted running +of the mills during the rest of the week. + +It occurred to Mr. Fairbairn that the defective arrangements thus +briefly described, might be remedied by the introduction of lighter +shafts driven at double or treble the velocity, smaller drums to +drive the machinery, and the use of wrought-iron wherever +practicable, because of its greater lightness and strength compared +with wood. He also provided for the simplification of the hangers and +fixings by which the shafting was supported, and introduced the +"half-lap coupling" so well known to millwrights and engineers. His +partner entered fully into his views; and the opportunity shortly +presented itself of carrying them into effect in the large new mill +erected in 1818, for the firm of MacConnel and Kennedy. The machinery +of that concern proved a great improvement on all that had preceded +it; and, to Messrs. Fairbairn and Lillie's new system of gearing Mr. +Kennedy added an original invention of his own in a system of double +speeds, with the object of giving an increased quantity of twist in +the finer descriptions of mule yarn. + +The satisfactory execution of this important work at once placed the +firm of Fairbairn and Lillie in the very front rank of engineering +millwrights. Mr. Kennedy's good word was of itself a passport to fame +and business, and as he was more than satisfied with the manner in +which his mill machinery had been planned and executed, he sounded +their praises in all quarters. Orders poured in upon them so rapidly, +that they had difficulty in keeping pace with the demands of the +trade. They then removed from their original shed to larger premises +in Matherstreet, where they erected additional lathes and other +tool-machines, and eventually a steam-engine. They afterwards added a +large cellar under an adjoining factory to their premises; and from +time to time provided new means of turning out work with increased +efficiency and despatch. In due course of time the firm erected a +factory of their own, fitted with the most improved machinery for +turning out millwork; and they went on from one contract to another, +until their reputation as engineers became widely celebrated. In +1826-7, they supplied the water-wheels for the extensive cotton-mills +belonging to Kirkman Finlay and Company, at Catrine Bank in Ayrshire. +These wheels are even at this day regarded as among the most perfect +hydraulic machines in Europe. About the same time they supplied the +mill gearing and water-machinery for Messrs. Escher and Company's +large works at Zurich, among the largest cotton manufactories on the +continent. + +In the mean while the industry of Manchester and the neighbourhood, +through which the firm had risen and prospered, was not neglected, +but had the full benefit of the various improvements which they were +introducing in mill machinery. In the course of a few years an entire +revolution was effected in the gearing. Ponderous masses of timber +and cast-iron, with their enormous bearings and couplings, gave place +to slender rods of wrought-iron and light frames or hooks by which +they were suspended. In like manner, lighter yet stronger wheels and +pulleys were introduced, the whole arrangements were improved, and, +the workmanship being greatly more accurate, friction was avoided, +while the speed was increased from about 40 to upwards of 300 +revolutions a minute. The fly-wheel of the engine was also converted +into a first motion by the formation of teeth on its periphery, by +which a considerable saving was effected both in cost and power. + +These great improvements formed quite an era in the history of mill +machinery; and exercised the most important influence on the +development of the cotton, flax, silk, and other branches of +manufacture. Mr. Fairbairn says the system introduced by his firm was +at first strongly condemned by leading engineers, and it was with +difficulty that he could overcome the force of their opposition; nor +was it until a wheel of thirty tons weight for a pair of engines of +100-horse power each was erected and set to work, that their +prognostications of failure entirely ceased. From that time the +principles introduced by Mr. Fairbairn have been adopted wherever +steam is employed as a motive power in mills. + +Mr. Fairbairn and his partner had a hard uphill battle to fight while +these improvements were being introduced; but energy and +perseverance, guided by sound judgment, secured their usual reward, +and the firm became known as one of the most thriving and +enterprising in Manchester. Long years after, when addressing an +assembly of working men, Mr. Fairbairn, while urging the necessity of +labour and application as the only sure means of self-improvement, +said, "I can tell you from experience, that there is no labour so +sweet, none so consolatory, as that which is founded upon an honest, +straightforward, and honourable ambition." The history of any +prosperous business, however, so closely resembles every other, and +its details are usually of so monotonous a character, that it is +unnecessary for us to pursue this part of the subject; and we will +content ourselves with briefly indicating the several further +improvements introduced by Mr. Fairbairn in the mechanics of +construction in the course of his long and useful career. + +His improvements in water-wheels were of great value, especially as +regarded the new form of bucket which he introduced with the object +of facilitating the escape of the air as the water entered the bucket +above, and its readmission as the water emptied itself out below. +This arrangement enabled the water to act upon the wheel with the +maximum of effect in all states of the river; and it so generally +recommended itself, that it very soon became adopted in most +water-mills both at home and abroad.* + [footnote... +The subject will be found fully treated in Mr. Fairbairn's own work, +A Treatise on Mills and Mill-Work, embodying the results of his large +experience. + ...] +His labours were not, however, confined to his own particular calling +as a mill engineer, but were shortly directed to other equally +important branches of the constructive art. Thus he was among the +first to direct his attention to iron ship building as a special +branch of business. In 1829, Mr. Houston, of Johnstown, near Paisley, +launched a light boat on the Ardrossan Canal for the purpose of +ascertaining the speed at which it could be towed by horses with two +or three persons on board. To the surprise of Mr. Houston and the +other gentlemen present, it was found that the labour the horses had +to perform in towing the boat was mach greater at six or seven, than +at nine miles an hour. This anomaly was very puzzling to the +experimenters, and at the request of the Council of the Forth and +Clyde Canal, Mr. Fairbairn, who had already become extensively known +as a scientific mechanic, was requested to visit Scotland and +institute a series of experiments with light boats to determine the +law of traction, and clear up, if possible, the apparent anomalies in +Mr. Houston's experiments. This he did accordingly, and the results +of his experiments were afterwards published, The trials extended +over a series of years, and were conducted at a cost of several +thousand pounds. The first experiments were made with vessels of +wood, but they eventually led to the construction of iron vessels +upon a large scale and on an entirely new principle of construction, +with angle iron ribs and wrought-iron sheathing plates. The results +proved most valuable, and had the effect of specially directing the +attention of naval engineers to the employment of iron in ship +building. + +Mr. Fairbairn himself fully recognised the value of the experiments, +and proceeded to construct an iron vessel at his works at Manchester, +in 1831, which went to sea the same year. Its success was such as to +induce him to begin iron shipbuilding on a large scale, at the same +time as the Messrs. Laird did at Birkenhead; and in 1835, Mr. +Fairbairn established extensive works at Millwall, on the +Thames,--afterwards occupied by Mr. Scott Russell, in whose yard the +"Great Eastern" steamship was erected,-- where in the course of some +fourteen years he built upwards of a hundred and twenty iron ships, +some of them above 2000 tons burden. It was in fact the first great +iron shipbuilding yard in Britain, and led the way in a branch of +business which has since become of first-rate magnitude and +importance. Mr. Fairbairn was a most laborious experimenter in iron, +and investigated in great detail the subject of its strength, the +value of different kinds of riveted joints compared with the solid +plate, and the distribution of the material throughout the structure, +as well as the form of the vessel itself. It would indeed be +difficult to over-estimate the value of his investigations on these +points in the earlier stages of this now highly important branch of +the national industry. + +To facilitate the manufacture of his iron-sided ships, Mr. Fairbairn, +about the year 1839, invented a machine for riveting boiler plates by +steam-power. The usual method by which this process had before been +executed was by hand-hammers, worked by men placed at each side of +the plate to be riveted, acting simultaneously on both sides of the +bolt. But this process was tedious and expensive, as well as clumsy +and imperfect; and some more rapid and precise method of fixing the +plates firmly together was urgently wanted. Mr. Fairbairn's machine +completely supplied the want. By its means the rivet was driven into +its place, and firmly fastened there by a couple of strokes of a +hammer impelled by steam. Aided by the Jacquard punching-machine of +Roberts, the riveting of plates of the largest size has thus become +one of the simplest operations in iron-manufacturing. + +The thorough knowledge which Mr. Fairbairn possessed of the strength +of wrought-iron in the form of the hollow beam (which a wrought-iron +ship really is) naturally led to his being consulted by the late +Robert Stephenson as to the structures by means of which it was +proposed to span the estuary of the Conway and the Straits of Menai; +and the result was the Conway and Britannia Tubular Bridges, the +history of which we have fully described elsewhere.* + [footnote... +Lives of the Engineers, vol. iii. 416-40. See also An Account of the +Construction of the Britannia and Conway Tubular Bridges. By William +Fairbairn, C.E. 1849. + ...] +There is no reason to doubt that by far the largest share of the +merit of working out the practical details of those structures, and +thus realizing Robert Stephenson's magnificent idea of the tubular +bridge, belongs to Mr. Fairbairn. + +In all matters connected with the qualities and strength of iron, he +came to be regarded as a first-rate authority, and his advice was +often sought and highly valued. The elaborate experiments instituted +by him as to the strength of iron of all kinds have formed the +subject of various papers which he has read before the British +Association, the Royal Society, and the Literary and Philosophical +Society of Manchester. His practical inquries as to the strength of +boilers have led to his being frequently called upon to investigate +the causes of boiler explosions, on which subject he has published +many elaborate reports. The study of this subject led him to +elucidate the law according to which the density of steam varies +throughout an extensive range of pressures and atmospheres,--in +singular confirmation of what had before been provisionally +calculated from the mechanical theory of heat. His discovery of the +true method of preventing the tendency of tubes to collapse, by +dividing the flues of long boilers into short lengths by means of +stiffening rings, arising out of the same investigation, was one of +the valuable results of his minute study of the subject; and is +calculated to be of essential value in the manufacturing districts by +diminishing the chances of boiler explosions, and saving the +lamentable loss of life which has during the last twenty years been +occasioned by the malconstruction of boilers. Among Mr. Fairbairn's +most recent, inquiries are those conducted by him at the instance of +the British Government relative to the construction of iron-plated +ships, his report of which has not yet been made public, most +probably for weighty political reasons. + +We might also refer to the practical improvements which Mr. Fairbairn +has been instrumental in introducing in the construction of buildings +of various kinds by the use of iron. He has himself erected numerous +iron structures, and pointed out the road which other manufacturers +have readily followed. "I am one of those," said he, in his 'Lecture +on the Progress of Engineering,' "who have great faith in iron walls +and iron beams; and although I have both spoken and written much on +the subject, I cannot too forcibly recommend it to public attention. +It is now twenty years since I constructed an iron house, with the +machinery of a corn-mill, for Halil Pasha, then Seraskier of the +Turkish army at Constantinople. I believe it was the first iron house +built in this country; and it was constructed at the works at +Millwall, London, in 1839."* + [footnote... +Useful Information for Engineers, 2nd series, 225. The mere list of +Mr. Fairbairn's writings would occupy considerable space; for, +notwithstanding his great labours as an engineer, he has also been an +industrious writer. His papers on Iron, read at different times +before the British Association, the Royal Society, and the Literary +and Philosophical Institution of Manchester, are of great value. The +treatise on "Iron" in the Encyclopaedia Britannica is from his pen, +and he has contributed a highly interesting paper to Dr. Scoffern's +Useful Metals and their Alloys on the Application of Iron to the +purposes of Ordnance, Machinery, Bridges, and House and Ship +Building. Another valuable but less-known contribution to Iron +literature is his Report on Machinery in General, published in the +Reports on the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1855. The experiments +conducted by Mr. Fairbairn for the purpose of proving the excellent +properties of iron for shipbuilding--the account of which was +published in the Trans actions of the Royal Society eventually led to +his further experiments to determine the strength and form of the +Britannia and Conway Tubular Bridges, plate-girders, and other +constructions, the result of which was to establish quite a new era +in the history of bridge as well as ship building. + ...] + +Since then iron structures of all kinds have been erected: iron +lighthouses, iron-and-crystal palaces, iron churches, and iron +bridges. Iron roads have long been worked by iron locomotives; and +before many years have passed a telegraph of iron wire will probably +be found circling the globe. We now use iron roofs, iron bedsteads, +iron ropes, and iron pavement; and even the famous "wooden walls of +England" are rapidly becoming reconstructed of iron. In short, we are +in the midst of what Mr. Worsaae has characterized as the Age of +Iron. + +At the celebration of the opening of the North Wales Railway at +Bangor, almost within sight of his iron bridge across the Straits of +Menai, Robert Stephenson said, "We are daily producing from the +bowels of the earth a raw material, in its crude state apparently of +no worth, but which, when converted into a locomotive engine, flies +over bridges of the same material, with a speed exceeding that of the +bird, advancing wealth and comfort throughout the country. Such are +the powers of that all-civilizing instrument, Iron." + +Iron indeed plays a highly important part in modem civilization. Out +of it are formed alike the sword and the ploughshare, the cannon and +the printing-press; and while civilization continues partial and +half-developed, as it still is, our liberties and our industry must +necessarily in a great measure depend for their protection upon the +excellence of our weapons of war as well as on the superiority of our +instruments of peace. Hence the skill and ingenuity displayed in the +invention of rifled guns and artillery, and iron-sided ships and +batteries, the fabrication of which would be impossible but for the +extraordinary development of the iron-manufacture, and the marvellous +power and precision of our tool-making machines, as described in +preceding chapters. + +"Our strength, wealth, and commerce," said Mr. Cobden in the course +of a recent debate in the House of Commons, "grow out of the skilled +labour of the men working in metals. They are at the foundation of +our manufacturing greatness; and in case you were attacked, they +would at once be available, with their hard hands and skilled brains, +to manufacture your muskets and your cannon, your shot and your +shell. What has given us our Armstrongs, Whitworths, and Fairbairns, +but the free industry of this country? If you can build three times +more steam-engines than any other country, and have threefold the +force of mechanics, to whom and to what do you owe that, but to the +men who have trained them, and to those principles of commerce out of +which the wealth of the country has grown? We who have some hand in +doing that, are not ignorant that we have been and are increasing the +strength of the country in proportion as we are raising up skilled +artisans."* + [footnote... +House of Commons Debate, 7th July, 1862. + ...] + +The reader who has followed us up to this point will have observed +that handicraft labour was the first stage of the development of +human power, and that machinery has been its last and highest. The +uncivilized man began with a stone for a hammer, and a splinter of +flint for a chisel, each stage of his progress being marked by an +improvement in his tools. Every machine calculated to save labour or +increase production was a substantial addition to his power over the +material resources of nature, enabling him to subjugate them more +effectually to his wants and uses; and every extension of machinery +has served to introduce new classes of the population to the +enjoyment of its benefits. In early times the products of skilled +industry were for the most part luxuries intended for the few, +whereas now the most exquisite tools and engines are employed in +producing articles of ordinary consumption for the great mass of the +community. Machines with millions of fingers work for millions of +purchasers--for the poor as well as the rich; and while the machinery +thus used enriches its owners, it no less enriches the public with +its products. + +Much of the progress to which we have adverted has been the result of +the skill and industry of our own time. "Indeed," says Mr. Fairbairn, +"the mechanical operations of the present day could not have been +accomplished at any cost thirty years ago; and what was then +considered impossible is now performed with an exactitude that never +fails to accomplish the end in view." For this we are mainly indebted +to the almost creative power of modern machine-tools, and the +facilities which they present for the production and reproduction of +other machines. We also owe much to the mechanical agencies employed +to drive them. Early inventors yoked wind and water to sails and +wheels, and made them work machinery of various kinds; but modern +inventors have availed themselves of the far more swift and powerful, +yet docile force of steam, which has now laid upon it the heaviest +share of the burden of toil, and indeed become the universal drudge. +Coal, water, and a little oil, are all that the steam-engine, with +its bowels of iron and heart of fire, needs to enable it to go on +working night and day, without rest or sleep. Yoked to machinery of +almost infinite variety, the results of vast ingenuity and labour, +the Steam-engine pumps water, drives spindles, thrashes corn, prints +books, hammers iron, ploughs land, saws timber, drives piles, impels +ships, works railways, excavates docks; and, in a word, asserts an +almost unbounded supremacy over the materials which enter into the +daily use of mankind, for clothing, for labour, for defence, for +household purposes, for locomotion, for food, or for instruction. + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Etext of "Industrial Biography" by Smiles + + + |