Industrial Biography

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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.

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