Part 3

In 1785 Mr. Boulton was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and two or three years after this, turned his attention to the subject of coining, to the improvement of which art he devoted the last twenty years of his life. He erected extensive machinery for this purpose, and by uniting some processes originating in France with new kinds of presses, he was enabled to obtain great rapidity of action combined with the utmost perfection in the articles produced; so much so, that having been employed by the British Government to recoin the whole of the British specie, he rendered counterfeits nearly impossible by the economy and excellence of his work. In addition to this, Mr. Boulton planned and directed the arrangement of the machinery in the British Mint, and executed that for the coining department. He also constructed the machinery for the great national mints of St. Petersburgh and Copenhagen; his son, to whom the establishment at Soho devolved upon his death, doing the same for the extensive and splendid establishments of the East India Company at Bombay and Calcutta.

Boulton died August 17, 1809, in his eighty-first year, and his remains were borne to the grave by the oldest workmen connected with the works at Soho; five hundred persons belonging to that establishment joined in the procession, which numbered among its ranks several thousand individuals, to whom medals were given recording the age of the deceased and the date of his death.--_Stuart's Anecdotes of the Steam Engine._ London, 1829.--_Muirhead's Translation of Arago's Life of J. Watt._ London, 1839.

JOSEPH BRAMAH.

Born April 13, 1749. Died December 9, 1814.

This eminent practical engineer and machinist was born at Stainborough, in Yorkshire. His father rented a farm on the estate of Lord Strafford, and Joseph, being the eldest of five children was intended for the same employment; but fortunately for his subsequent career, an accidental lameness, which occurred when he was sixteen years old, prevented his following agricultural pursuits. When quite a boy, Bramah exhibited unusual mechanical talent; he succeeded in constructing two violoncellos, which were found to be very tolerable instruments, and also managed to cut a violin out of a single block of wood, by means of tools which were forged for him by a neighbouring smith, whom in after life he engaged in London as one of his principal workmen. After having served an apprenticeship to a carpenter and joiner, Bramah obtained employment in the workshop of a cabinetmaker in London, and soon afterwards established himself as a principal in the business. The history of his life after this is perhaps best given by a record of his numerous inventions, all of which are, more or less, of a highly useful character. For the manufacture of these, Bramah first took up his residence in Denmark Street, Soho, but subsequently removed to Piccadilly, and established the various branches of his manufactory in some extensive premises at Pimlico. In 1783 he took out a patent for an improved watercock, and in the year following, completed the invention of his famous lock, which for many years stood unrivalled in ingenuity of construction, workmanship, and powers of resistance against all attempts to pick.[4] Bramah's indefatigable spirit of invention was stimulated to fresh efforts by the success of his lock, and he now entered upon a more important and original line of action than he had yet ventured upon. In his patent of 1785 he indicated many inventions, although 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. For different modifications of pumps and fire-engines, Mr. Bramah took out three successive patents, the two last being dated in 1790 and 1798. But in the year 1795 he produced and patented the most important of all his inventions, namely, 'The Hydraulic Press,' a machine which gives to a child the strength of a giant, enabling him to bend a bar of iron as if it were wax. The chief difficulty which Bramah experienced in constructing this press was that of devising an efficient packing for the ram or solid piston, which, while capable of keeping out the water under the tremendous internal pressure exercised by the pump, should, on the withdrawal of that pressure, allow the ram to sink into its original place. This was at length accomplished by the invention of the self-tightening leather-collar, which was firmly secured in a recess at the top of a cylinder, with the concave side downwards. Consequently, when the water was pumped into the cylinder, it immediately forced its way between the bent edges of the collar; and the greater the pressure of water, the tighter became the hold which the collar took of the solid piston. It appears from the testimony of Mr. James Nasmyth, that Bramah was indebted for this simple but beautiful contrivance, to Henry Maudslay, who was at that time a workman in his shop, and who had already greatly assisted him in the construction of his lock.

Bramah continued his useful labours as an inventor for many years, and his studies 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, which he adopted in the well-known fire-engine. In 1797 he took out a patent for the beer-machine, now in such general use in public houses, and in the description of this he includes a mode of converting every cask in a cellar into a force pump, so as to raise the liquor to any part of the house; a filtering machine; a method of making pipes; a vent peg, and a new form of stop-cock. Bramah also turned his attention to the improvement of the steam-engine, but in this, Watt's patent had left little room for other inventors: and hence Bramah seems to have entertained a grudge against Watt, which was shown strongly in the evidence given by him in the case of Boulton and Watt _versus_ Hornblower and Maberly, tried in December 1796. On the expiry, however, of Boulton and Watt's patent, Bramah introduced several valuable improvements in the details of the condensing engine, the most important of which was his "four-way cock," which was so contrived as to revolve continuously instead of alternately, thus insuring greater precision with less wear of parts. In this patent, which he secured in 1801, he also proposed sundry improvements in the boilers, as well as modifications in various parts of the engine. In the year 1802, Bramah obtained a patent for a very elaborate and accurate machine for producing smooth and parallel surfaces on wood and other materials. This was erected on a large scale at Woolwich Arsenal, and proved perfectly successful. The specification of the patent includes the description of a mode 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, nearly of the same form as that employed by common turners for making bowls. Bramah also invented machinery for making paper in large sheets, and for printing by means of a roller, composed of a number of circular plates, each turning on the same axis, and bearing twenty-six letters capable of being shifted at pleasure, so as to express any single line by a proper combination of the plates. This was put in practice to number bank-notes, and enabled twenty clerks to perform the labour which previously had required one hundred and twenty. In 1812 he projected a scheme for main-pipes, which was, however, in many respects, more ingenious than practicable. In describing this, he mentions having employed a hydrostatic pressure equal to that of a column of water twenty thousand feet high (about three and a half tons per square inch). Mr. Bramah made several improvements in the bearings of wheels, and suggested the use of pneumatic springs formed by pistons sliding in cylinders, in place of the usual metal springs for carriages. He likewise improved the machines for sawing stones and timber, and suggested some alterations in the construction of bridges and canal locks. He died in his sixty-sixth year, his last illness having been occasioned by a severe cold caught during the month of November, while making some experiments with his hydraulic press on the tearing up of trees in Holt Forest. He was a cheerful, 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 the stagnation of trade prevented him from disposing of the products of their labour. As a manufacturer he was distinguished for his promptitude and probity, and was celebrated for the exquisite finish which he gave to his productions. At his death he left his family in affluent circumstances, and his manufacturing establishments have since his death been continued by his sons. Unfortunately, Mr. Bramah had an invincible dislike to sitting for his portrait, and there consequently exists no likeness of this distinguished man; for, although a cast of his face was taken after death by Sir Francis Chantry, this, together with many others was destroyed by Lady Chantry after the death of her husband.--_Memoir by Dr. Brown._--_Stuart's Anecdotes of the Steam Engine._ London, 1829.--_Smiles's Industrial Biography._ London, 1863.

ROBERT BROWN, D.C.L., F.R.S., P.L.S., &c.

MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE OF FRANCE.

Born December 21, 1773. Died June 10, 1859.

Robert Brown, whom Humboldt has designated as the "Prince of Botanists," was the second and only surviving son of the Rev. James Brown, Episcopalian Minister, of Montrose. Several generations of his maternal ancestors were, like his father, ministers of the Scottish Episcopalian Church, and from them he appears to have inherited a strong attachment to logical and metaphysical studies, the effects of which are so strikingly manifested in the philosophical character of his botanical investigations. At an early age he was sent to the grammar-school of his native town, and in 1787 entered at Marischal College, Aberdeen, where he immediately obtained a Ramsay Bursary in philosophy. About two years afterwards, on his father quitting Montrose to reside in Edinburgh, he was removed to the University of that city, in which he continued his studies for several years; but without taking a degree, although destined for the medical profession.

In the year 1791, at the age of seventeen, Brown laid before the Natural History Society, of which he was a member, his earliest paper, which contained, together with critical notes and observations, an enumeration of such plants as had been discovered in North Britain subsequent to the publication of Lightfoot's "Flora Scotica." Although this paper was not intended for publication, it brought the young botanist into communication with Dr. Withering, and laid the foundation of a warm and intimate friendship between them. In the year 1795, soon after the embodiment of the Fifeshire Regiment of Fencible Infantry, Brown obtained in it the double commission of ensign and assistant surgeon, proceeding with the regiment to the north of Ireland, in various parts of which he was stationed until the summer of 1798, when he was detached to England on recruiting service.

Fortunately for himself and for science, this service enabled him to pass some time in London, where his already established botanical reputation secured him a cordial reception from Sir Joseph Banks, of whose library and collections he availed himself to the utmost. In 1799 he returned to his regimental duties in Ireland, from which he was finally recalled, in December of the following year, by a letter from Sir Joseph Banks, proposing for his acceptance the post of naturalist in the expedition for surveying the coasts of New Holland, then fitting out under the command of Captain Flinders.

In the summer of 1801 he embarked at Portsmouth and set out on this expedition. His absence from England lasted more than four years, during which period the southern, eastern, and northern coasts of New Holland, and the southern part of Van Diemen's Land were thoroughly explored; and he arrived in Liverpool, in the month of October, 1805, enriched with a collection of dried plants amounting to nearly 4000 species, a large proportion of which were not only new to science, but likewise exhibited extraordinary combinations of character and form. Immediately on his arrival in England, Brown was appointed librarian of the Linnean Society, of which he had been elected an associate in 1798. The materials which he had been indefatigable in collecting during this voyage, and the vast store of facts and observations in relation to their structure and affinities which he had accumulated, opened out to him new views upon a multitude of botanical subjects, which he was enabled by his position in the Linnean Society to enlarge, and to perfect, and ultimately to lay before the world in a series of masterly publications, which at once stamped upon him the character of the greatest and most philosophical botanist that England had ever produced.

In 1810 appeared the first volume of his 'Prodromus Floræ novæ Hollandiæ et Insulæ Van Diemen.' This important work, together with his memoirs on Proteaciæ and Asclepiadeæ, which immediately followed, and his 'General Remarks, Geographical and Systematical, on the Botany of Terra Australis,' appended to the 'Narrative of Captain Flinder's Voyage,' published in 1814, by displaying in the most instructive form the superior advantages of the Natural System, gave new life to that system, which had hitherto found little favour in France, and speedily led to its universal adoption. A series of memoirs followed the above works, chiefly in the Transactions of the Linnean Society, or in the appendices to various books of travel and survey, which gave fuller and more complete development to his views upon almost every department of botanical science, and induced the illustrious Humboldt not only to confer upon Brown the title mentioned at the beginning of this memoir, but also to designate him as the "Glory and Ornament of Great Britain."[5]

At the close of the year 1810, on the death of his learned and intimate friend Dryander, Mr. Brown succeeded to the office of Librarian to Sir Joseph Banks, who (on his death in 1820) bequeathed to him for life the use and enjoyment of his library and collections. These were subsequently, with Mr. Brown's consent, and in conformity with the provisions of Sir Joseph's will, transferred, in 1827, to the British Museum; and from this latter date, until his death, he continued to fill the office of Keeper of the Botanical Collections in the National establishment. In 1849 Mr. Brown was elected President of the Linnean Society, of which, soon after the death of Sir Joseph Banks, he had resigned the Librarianship, and had become a fellow.

In 1811 he had been made a fellow of the Royal Society; and in 1839 received its highest honour in the Copley medal, awarded to him "for his discoveries during a series of years on the subject of vegetable impregnation." In the meantime, honours and titles flowed in upon him from all quarters. In 1832 the University of Oxford conferred on him, in conjunction with Dalton, Faraday, and Brewster, the honorary degree of D.C.L.; and, in the succeeding year, he was elected one of the eight foreign associates of the Academy of Sciences of the Institute of France, his name being selected from a list, including those of nine other savans of world-wide reputation, nearly every one of whom has since been elected to the same distinguished honour. During the administration of Sir Robert Peel, he received, in recognition of his great eminence in botanical science, a pension on the Civil List of 200_l_. per annum, and shortly afterwards the King of Prussia decorated him with the cross of the highest Prussian Civil Order--'Pour le Merite.'

Of Mr. Brown's later publications the most important are, his 'Botanical Appendix to Captain Burt's Expedition into Central Australia,' published in 1849; and his Memoir 'On Triplosporite, an undescribed Fossil Fruit,' published in the Linnean Transactions for 1851. The pervading and distinguishing character of all these writings, is to be found in the combination of the minutest accuracy of detail with the most comprehensive generalization; and no theory is propounded which does not rest for its foundation on the most circumspect investigation of all attainable facts. Among the most important anatomical and physiological subjects of which they treat, particular mention is due to the discovery of the nucleus of the vegetable cell, the development of the stamina, together with the mode of fecundation in Asclepiadeæ and Orchideæ; the development of the pollen and of the ovulum in Phœnogamous plants, and the bearing of these facts upon the general subject of impregnation; also the origin and development of the spores of mosses; and the discovery of the peculiar motions which take place in the "active molecules" of matter when seen suspended in a fluid under the microscope. Of structural investigations, the most important are those which establish the relation of the flower to the axis from which it is derived, and of the parts of a flower to each other, as regards both position and number; the analogy between stamina and pistilla; the neuration of the corolla of compositœ, their œstivation and inflorescence; and the structure of the stems of cycadeœ, both recent and fossil.

Mr. Brown was also strongly attached to the study of fossil botany, and, with a view to its prosecution, he formed an extensive and valuable collection of fossil woods, which he has bequeathed, under certain conditions, to the British Museum.

After the death of Sir Joseph Banks, who bequeathed to him his house in Soho Square, Mr. Brown continued to occupy that portion of it which opened upon Dean Street; and it was in the library of that illustrious man, the scene of his labours for sixty years, surrounded by his books and by his collections, that Robert Brown breathed his last, on the 10th of June, 1859, in the eighty-fifth year of his age.--_Memoir by John J. Bennett, F.R.S._, read at the Anniversary Meeting of the Linnean Society, May, 1859.

SIR M. ISAMBARD BRUNEL, V.P.R.S., &c.

Born April 25, 1769. Died December 12, 1849.

This celebrated engineer was born at Haqueville, in Normandy, where his family had for several centuries held an honourable position, numbering among its members the eminent French painter Nicholas Poussin. Brunel was educated at the seminary at Rouen, with the intention of his entering holy orders, but he displayed so decided a taste for mathematics and mechanics,[6] that by the advice of the superior of the establishment he was removed to follow a more congenial career.

His father then destined him for the naval service, which he entered on the appointment of the Mareschal de Castries, the Minister of Marine, and made several voyages to the West Indies. While in this position, although only fifteen years old, his mechanical talents showed themselves on many occasions, and he surprised his captain by the production of a sextant of his own manufacture, with which he took his observations.

In 1792 Brunel returned to France, where he found the revolution at its height, and, like all who entertained Royalist principles, was compelled to seek safety by flight, which with difficulty he effected,[7] taking refuge in the United States of America. Here, driven by necessity to the exercise of his talents, he followed the bent of his inclination, and became a civil engineer and architect. His first engagement in this capacity was on the survey of a tract of land near Lake Erie; he then became engaged in cutting canals, and was employed to erect an arsenal and cannon foundry at New York, where he erected several new and ingenious machines. He was also engaged to design and superintend the building of the Bowery Theatre, New York, since destroyed by fire, the roof of which was peculiar and original in its construction. Brunel now rose high in the estimation of the citizens of New York; they appointed him their chief engineer, and in that capacity he organized an establishment for casting and boring ordnance, which at that time was considered unsurpassed for its novelty of design and general practicability. Previously to this the idea of substituting machinery for manual labour in making ships' blocks had long occupied Brunel's mind, and in 1799, having matured his plans, he determined upon coming to England, finding that the United States were unable to afford full occupation for his inventive genius.

In the month of May of the same year Brunel took out his first patent in England, which was for a duplicate writing and drawing machine. His next invention was a machine for twisting cotton thread and forming it into balls; it measured the length of thread which it wound, and proportioned the size of the ball to its weight and firmness. This machine was not, however, patented, and it became rapidly and generally adopted without bringing any advantage to the inventor.

Brunel's next contrivance was a machine for trimmings and borders for muslins, lawns, and cambrics, somewhat of the nature of a sewing machine. Shortly after this he patented his famous block-machinery, which he submitted for the inspection of the Admiralty in 1801.

Earl St. Vincent was at that time at the head of the Admiralty, and after many delays and difficulties, which were ultimately overcome chiefly through the influence of Earl Spencer and Sir Samuel Bentham, Brunel's system was adopted; and he was enabled to erect the beautiful and effective machinery, which has continued until the present time, without any alteration or improvement, to produce nearly all the blocks used in the Royal Navy.[8] The construction of this block machinery, completed in 1808, was entrusted to the late Mr. Henry Maudslay, from whom Brunei had already derived considerable assistance in the execution of his models and working out of his designs. It was erected in Portsmouth Dockyard, and the economy produced by the first year's use of these machines was estimated at about 24,000_l._, two-thirds of which sum was awarded to the ingenious inventor, who was soon after engaged by the government to erect extensive saw mills, and carry out other improvements at Chatham and Woolwich. Brunel was essentially an inventor; besides the above-mentioned machines, he took out patents for "the manufacture of tin-foil," for "copying presses," for "stereotype printing plates," a contrivance for making the small boxes used by druggists, and a nail-making machine.

He likewise introduced the system of cutting veneers by circular saws of a large diameter, to which is mainly due the present extensive application of veneers of wood to ornamental furniture.