Part 11

After being employed for two years as a 'powder monkey' in the dockyard, that is, in making and filling cartridges, Maudslay was placed, at the age of fourteen, in the carpenter's shop. He however infinitely preferred the blacksmith's shop, availing himself of every opportunity to escape from his proper place, and steal off to the smithy. His propensity was in fact so strong that it was thought better to yield to it, and he was accordingly removed there in his fifteenth year. He now made rapid progress, and soon became so expert a smith and metal-worker as to attract considerable notice. Even in after life, when at the head of the well-known firm which he founded, nothing pleased him more than to set to work upon a difficult piece of forging and to overcome the difficulties which it presented, which few could do so well as he. The reputation which Maudslay acquired here, led to his introduction and ultimate employment by Bramah, who was at that time engaged in constructing his celebrated lock.

One of the chief obstacles which Bramah had to contend with in getting his lock into general use, was, the difficulty he experienced in having it manufactured with sufficient precision and at such a price as to render it an article of successful commerce. Maudslay's[23] ability as a workman and sound mechanical knowledge was of great service to Bramah in this particular; the most difficult and delicate jobs were entrusted to him, and among others he constructed the identical lock, the picking of which so severely tested the skill and ability of Mr. Hobbs in the year 1851. He also, according to the testimony of Mr. J. Nasmyth, supplied Bramah with the key to the practical success of the hydraulic press, viz., the self-tightening leather collar.[24]

About the year 1797 Maudslay commenced business on his own account in Wells Street, Oxford Street, removing a few years afterwards to Margaret Street, Cavendish Square. Here he matured and carried out many improvements in tools connected with the mechanical arts, bringing into general notice and use planing machines and the slide rest. So great was the prejudice felt against this last named important adjunct of a lathe, that on the first introduction of the slide rest to the engineers of the period, it was received with great disfavour, and called by one in derision the 'Go Cart.' Maudslay also directed his attention to the subject of screw cutting. Previous to his time the tools used for making screws were of the most rude and inexact kind: each manufacturing establishment made them after their own fashion, and no system was observed as to the pitch. Every bolt and nut was a speciality in itself; and to such an extent was this carried that all bolts and their corresponding nuts had to be marked, any mixing of them together causing endless trouble and confusion. Maudslay changed all this--he brought screw-cutting into a proper system, and laid the foundation of all that has since been done in this important branch of machine-construction, and many of those who afterwards became eminent in this particular branch of manufacture, acquired their first knowledge of the subject in his employ.[25] While residing in Margaret Street he became acquainted with Sir Isambard (then Mr.) Brunel, who was in the habit of bringing drawings of small pieces of machinery for him to construct: this attracted Maudslay's attention, and at last he one day exclaimed to Sir Isambard, "Ah! I see what you are thinking of--you want machinery for making blocks:" this so pleased Brunei, that he became more open of communication, and in the subsequent completion of the beautiful block machinery afterwards erected at Portsmouth Dockyard, Mr. Brunel derived great advantage from the sound mechanical knowledge of Maudslay. The friendship commenced thus was never afterwards shaken, and when Brunel began the Thames Tunnel, he consulted his old friend relative to the construction of the shield, as it was termed, under shelter of which the excavation beneath the bed of the river, and the brickwork for forming the Tunnel were proceeded with.

In the year 1807 Maudslay 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, from its form, and was the first move towards direct acting engines. In 1810, finding his business getting too extensive for his premises in Margaret Street, he removed to the more capacious ones in Westminster Road, Lambeth. Here he for many years carried on a large business, embracing the manufacture of all kinds of machinery, but more particularly of marine engines, to the construction and improvement of which he early directed his attention, foreseeing how important a branch of industry they would eventually become; and it may be interesting to record, that the engines (24 H. P.) of the 'Regent,' the first steamboat which ran between London and Margate, were made at this yard in the year 1816.

Mr. Maudslay held for several years the contract for supplying the Royal Navy with ship tanks, and this led to his making improved machinery for punching and shearing the iron plates used in their manufacture, reducing the cost of preparing the plates for receiving the rivets from seven shillings, to ninepence, per Tank.

Mr. Maudslay has been described by his friend Mr. James Nasmyth as the very beau-ideal of an honest, upright, straightforward, hardworking intelligent Englishman: he died in his 60th year from a severe cold which he had caught on his way home from a visit to France, and was buried in Woolwich churchyard, in a vault he had caused to be constructed there; the monument and tablet erected to his memory were of cast iron, and were made from a design of his own. Maudslay married when twenty years old Sarah Tindel, by whom he had four sons and three daughters, of whom now survive only one daughter, and one son Thomas Henry Maudslay.--_From particulars communicated by members of the present firm of Maudslay, Sons and Field._--_Smile's Industrial Biography._ London, 1863.

PATRICK MILLER.

Born in Scotland 1730. Died at Dalswinton House, near Dumfries, 1815.

Patrick Miller, of Dalswinton, was originally a banker, and ultimately became possessed of considerable independent property. At different periods of his life he embarked in many schemes of great public utility. He made considerable improvements in artillery and naval architecture, and during the course of his various experiments expended upwards of thirty thousand pounds. One of the immediate results of his experiments in the first-named science was the invention of the well-known carronade; while in the course of his experiments in naval architecture, he constructed double and triple vessels, and was the first to practically apply the present form of the paddle-wheels now in ordinary use to their propulsion. Having satisfied himself of the usefulness of his researches in this respect, by many costly experiments undertaken at his own expense, Mr. Miller published at Edinburgh, in 1787, a book in English and French, containing a full account of them, and sent a copy of his work to every sovereign in Europe, and also to the American States, inasmuch as he considered that his inventions ought to be the property of the human kind.[26] The paddle-wheels in these experiments (undertaken in the years 1786-7) were turned by manual labour, and on the occasion of a severe contest between one of his double boats and a Custom-house boat, reckoned to be a fast sailer, the want of a more powerful force to turn the wheels was greatly felt. Mr. James Taylor, at that time a tutor in Mr. Miller's family, suggested steam power, and ultimately introduced Miller to Wm. Symington, with whose aid Mr. Miller commenced and carried out those experiments (in the years 1788-89) which have justly entitled him to the honour of being the first to originate the present system of steam navigation.[27]

It is much to be regretted that since the deaths of Mr. Miller and Mr. Symington, statements have been made in which the _entire_ merit of first establishing steam navigation is claimed, on the one hand, for Miller, by his eldest son, in a paper published in the 'Edinburgh Philosophical Journal' for July 1825; and on the other for Symington, by Richard Bowie, in his pamphlet published in 1833; whereas these two gentlemen appear to be inseparably connected with the first introduction of this grand application of steam. As far as it is possible to reconcile the conflicting statements, the facts may be briefly stated thus. Patrick Miller was the first to successfully propel vessels by paddle-wheels moved by manual labour. He then, in conjunction with William Symington, applied steam to move these paddle-wheels, and constructed two steam-boats, which were publicly tried, on the Forth and Clyde Canal, in the years 1788-89. Although these trials triumphantly proved the practicability of steam navigation, further improvements were required before a really successful steam-boat could be said to have been constructed. At this point, unfortunately, Mr. Miller, having already spent large sums of money in his experiments, let the matter drop; but Symington, about ten years afterwards, under the patronage of Lord Dundas, succeeding in constructing 'The Charlotte Dundas,' a steam-boat which, for the first time, combined together those improvements which constitute the present system of steam navigation. In the narrative written by Patrick Miller, Jun., a good deal of praise, in regard to this matter, is given to James Taylor, before referred to, who is considered by some as having a just claim to participate in the honour awarded to Miller and Symington. Mr. Taylor's merits, however, appear chiefly to consist in having suggested, upon the occasion of a race between one of Miller's boats and a Custom House boat, that they only required the help of a steam-engine to beat their antagonists; also, in having introduced Symington, whose steam-carriage had rendered him famous, to the notice of Mr. Miller; and although Taylor assisted in the subsequent experiments, he seems to have contributed little to their practical success.--_Narrative of Facts relative to Invention and Practice of Steam Navigation, &c., by Patrick Miller, Jun., 'Edinburgh Philosophical Journal,'_ Vol. 13, July 1825.--_Narrative by R. Bowie, proving William Symington the Inventor of Steam Land Carriage Locomotion and of Steam Navigation._ London, 1833.--_Stuart's Anecdotes of the Steam Engine._ London, 1829.--_Descriptive Catalogue of the Museum of the Commissioners of Patents._

WILLIAM MURDOCK.

Born 1754. Died November 15, 1839.

William Murdock was born at Bellow Mill, near Old Cumnock, Ayrshire, where his father carried on the business of a millwright and miller, and likewise possessed a farm on the estate of the Boswell family of Auchinleck. His mother's maiden name was Bruce, and she used to boast of being lineally descended from Robert Bruce, of Scottish History. Little is known of Murdock's life prior to his coming to England, and joining, in the year 1777, Boulton and Watt's establishment at Soho, at that time in its infancy. He must, however, have had some celebrity in his native country, as he was employed to build a bridge over the river Nith, in Dumfrieshire, a very handsome structure, and still in existence. His talents were soon appreciated at Soho, particularly by James Watt, with whom he continued on terms of the closest friendship until Mr. Watt's death in 1819. After remaining two years at Soho, Murdock was appointed by Messrs. Boulton and Watt to superintend the erection, and undertake the general charge, of their new steam-engines in Cornwall, where he erected the first engine, in that part of the country, with a separate condenser. He continued to live in the district for the space of nineteen years, giving great satisfaction to the mining interest; so much so, that when it became known that he was about to return to Soho, 1000_l._ a-year was offered him to remain in Cornwall. During his residence there Murdock contrived and executed a model locomotive, which, as early as the year 1784, he was in the habit of showing to his friends in working order, and drawing a small waggon round a room in his house at Redruth. He used to tell a story, that while making experiments with this engine, he one night determined to test its powers on a level road leading from his house to the church, which was situated about a mile distant from the town; this road was bounded on each side by high edges, and well suited for the purpose. Murdock accordingly sallied out, and placing his engine on the ground, lit the fire, or rather lamp, under the boiler; after a few minutes off started the locomotive with the inventor full chase after it; after continuing the pursuit for a short distance, he heard cries as of a person in great distress; the night was too dark to perceive objects afar off, but on going on, he found that the sounds proceeded from the clergyman of the parish, who had set out for the town on business, and being met on this lonely road by the fiery monster, had taken it for the Evil One in person. This model locomotive was exhibited before a meeting of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1850, sixty-six years after the date of its construction.

Mr. Murdock is, however, better known to the public by his application of the light of coal gas to general purposes. Although this gas had been well known, and obtained both naturally and artificially more than half a century before his time, no attempt had as yet been made to turn the discovery to any useful account. In the year 1792 Murdock first employed coal gas for the purpose of lighting his house and offices at Redruth; he made it serve also as a lantern, by attaching a bladder with a tube mouthpiece under the bottom of a glass shade, which contrivance used to light him across the moors when returning home at night from the mining engines he was erecting in different parts of the district. After various experiments which proved the economy and convenience of light so obtained, he perfected his apparatus and made a public exhibition of it by lighting up the front of Boulton and Watt's manufactory at Soho, on the occasion of the general illumination for the peace of Amiens, in 1802. He subsequently lighted up some cotton mills at Manchester, beginning with Messrs. Phillips and Lee's, and published a paper on the subject in the 'Philosophical Transactions' of 1808, for which the Royal Society presented him with the Rumford gold medal.

In 1798 Murdock returned to take up his permanent residence at Soho, superintending the machinery there, and occasionally the erection of engines at a distance, among which may be mentioned those of the New River Head, Lambeth, Chelsea, Southwark, East London, West Middlesex, and other waterworks. In the following year he took out a patent for improvements in boring cylinders and in the manufacture of steam casings; this patent also included the double =D= slide valve and a rotary engine. Amongst other inventions and discoveries of Murdock's are: a plan for boring stone pipes for water, and cutting columns out of solid blocks of stone (for which he took a patent in 1810); a pneumatic lift working by compressed air; and a cast iron cement, which he was led to discover by the accidental observance of some iron borings and sal-ammoniac, which had got mixed in his tool-chest and rusted a sword blade nearly through. He also made use of compressed air to ring the bells in his house; a plan which so pleased Sir Walter Scott, to whom it had been described, that he had his house at Abbotsford fitted up in a similar manner. Murdock likewise discovered a substitute for isinglass, and when in London for the purpose of explaining to the brewers the nature of his discovery, occupied very handsome apartments. Being, however, at all times absorbed in whatever subject he had in hand, he little respected the splendour of his drawing-room, but proceeded with his experiments as if in the laboratory at Soho, quite unconscious of the mischief he was doing. This resulted in his abrupt dismissal from the apartments by the enraged landlady, who one morning, on calling in to receive orders, was horrified at seeing all her magnificent paper-hangings covered with wet fish skins hung up to dry, and actually caught him in the act of pinning up a cod's skin to undergo the same process.

In the year 1815, while Mr. Murdock was fitting up an apparatus of his own invention for heating the water of the baths at Leamington, a ponderous cast-iron plate fell upon his leg above the ankle, nearly severing it in two. This severe accident laid him up for a long time, and he never entirely recovered from the effects of it. During the latter years of his life Murdock's faculties, both corporeal and mental, experienced a gradual decay, causing him to live in complete retirement. He died in 1839, aged eighty-five years, and his remains were buried in Handsworth Church, near to those of Boulton and James Watt.

Mr. Murdock married in the year 1785 the daughter of Captain Paynter, of Redruth, Cornwall, who died at the early age of twenty-four, having had four children.--_From a Paper read by Mr. William Buckle, of Soho, before a meeting of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers_, October 23, 1850.

ROBERT MYLNE.

Born January 4, 1733. Died May 5, 1811.

Robert Mylne, the architect of Blackfriars Bridge, was born at Edinburgh. His father was an architect, and magistrate of the city; and his family, it has been ascertained, held the office of Master Masons to the Kings of Scotland for a period of five hundred years, until the union of the crowns of England and Scotland.

On arriving at man's estate, Mylne travelled for improvement; and his enthusiastic prosecution of his art soon brought him into notice. In 1758 he became a candidate for the honours of the Academy of St. Luke at Rome, and the chief prize in the highest class of architecture was awarded to him; being the first instance of a native of Great Britain obtaining that honour.

Mylne resided at Rome during a space of five years, and on his return to England executed a design for Blackfriars Bridge, which was selected from among twenty others. This bridge was commenced in 1760; and on the occasion of the laying of the foundation-stone by the Lord Mayor, among other medals deposited in the stone was a silver one, the memorial of the young architect's first triumph, viz., the medal (one of two) given him by the Academy at Rome. The bridge was completed in 1769; the arches are elliptical in shape, and were the first instances in England in which the form of an ellipse was substituted for a semicircle. The total cost of the bridge itself, exclusive of the approaches, amounted to 152,840_l._

Mylne's reputation was now established, and his services were employed in the erection or improvement of many edifices throughout the United Kingdom. He received at the hands of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of London, and the Lord Mayor, the office of Surveyor of St. Paul's Cathedral; and while holding this appointment, suggested the famous inscription to Sir Christopher Wren--'_Si monumentum quæris circumspice_.' He also held the office of Clerk of the Works at Greenwich Hospital for fifteen years, and was Engineer to the New River Water Works from the year 1762 until his death, in 1811, when he was succeeded by his son.

Towards the close of the eighteenth century, he became acquainted with Mr. John Rennie, whose celebrity as an engineer was then approaching its height; and the two became from that time inseparable friends.[28] Mr. Mylne was also an intimate friend of Dr. Johnson, their acquaintance having originated out of a controversy as to the form of the arch for Blackfriars Bridge.

Mylne was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral, by the side of his illustrious predecessor, Sir Christopher Wren.--_Gateshead Observer_, October 20, 1860.--_Encyclopædia Britannica._

ALEXANDER NASMYTH.

Born September 7, 1758. Died April 10, 1840.

Alexander Nasmyth, the distinguished Scotch landscape painter, and known also as a man of science, was born at Edinburgh. He came early in life to London, where he was for some time the pupil of Allen Ramsay, painter to George III. He resided afterwards in Rome for several years, during which time he studied portrait, history, and landscape painting.

From Rome, Nasmyth returned to Edinburgh, where he settled as a portrait painter, and executed his well-known painting of Robert Burns-the most authentic likeness of this great poet. Having, however, a decided taste for landscape painting, he ultimately confined himself to this branch of art; but much of his time was occupied in teaching, in which he was very successful. His landscapes, which are very numerous, were, many of them, reminiscences of Italian scenery, and although wanting in originality and vigour, possess so much beauty and grace as to have caused their author to acquire the name of the 'Scottish Claude.'

Mr. Nasmyth was a favourite in society, and was the leading teacher in art of the highest classes in Scotland; during his later years being commonly looked up to as the patriarch of Scottish art. He not only took much interest in the proceedings of the artistic societies of Edinburgh, but often raised an influential voice in respect to the alterations making in that city; and was one of the three successful competitors between whom the first prize offered for the best plan for laying out and building the New Town of Edinburgh was equally divided.

Mr. Nasmyth spent much of his time in scientific experiments, and was the inventor of 'bow and string bridges,' and of a method of driving the screw-propellers of vessels by direct action, in front of the rudder. Much of his leisure time was spent in a workshop which he had fitted up for himself, and which proved the nursery of the early mechanical genius of the present James Nasmyth, the celebrated engineer.

Soon after his return from Italy, Alexander Nasmyth married the sister of Sir James Foulis of Woodhall Colinton, by whom he had a family of three sons and five daughters, all of whom inherited more or less their father's talents, while the eldest, Patrick, has acquired a separate renown of no inconsiderable extent, for the beauty of his landscapes.

Alexander Nasmyth died in York Place, Edinburgh, at the age of eighty-three, and was interred in the West Church burying-ground of that city.--_English Cyclopædia._ London, 1857.--_Catalogue of Gallery of Portraits of Inventors, &c., in the South Kensington Museum._

JOHN PLAYFAIR, F.R.S., L. and E.

PROFESSOR OF MATHEMATICS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH.

Born March 10, 1748. Died July 19, 1819.

John Playfair, a mathematician and philosopher of great eminence and celebrity, was born at Benvie in Forfarshire, and was the eldest son of the Rev. James Playfair, the minister of that place. Playfair resided at home, under the domestic tuition of his father, until the age of fourteen, when he entered the University of St. Andrew's, where he became almost immediately distinguished, not merely for his singular proficiency in mathematical learning, but also for the extent of his general knowledge, the clearness of his judgment, and the dignity and propriety of his conduct. A strong proof of his capabilities at this time is given by the fact, that when Dr. Wilkie, the professor of natural philosophy, was prevented by indisposition from delivering the regular lectures, he used generally to delegate the task of instruction to his youthful pupil, Playfair.