Industrial Biography

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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.

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