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第46节

industrial biography-第46节

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thing to invent; said Sir Marc Brunel; and another thing to make the

invention work。  Thus when Watt; after long labour and study; had

brought his invention to completion; he encountered an obstacle which

has stood in the way of other inventors; and for a time prevented the

introduction of their improvements; if not led to their being laid

aside and abandoned。  This was the circumstance that the machine

projected was so much in advance of the mechanical capability of the

age that it was with the greatest difficulty it could be executed。

When labouring upon his invention at Glasgow; Watt was baffled and

thrown into despair by the clumsiness and incompetency of his

workmen。  Writing to Dr。 Roebuck on one occasion; he said; 〃You ask

what is the principal hindrance in erecting engines? It is always the

smith…work。〃  His first cylinder was made by a whitesmith; of hammered

iron soldered together; but having used quicksilver to keep the

cylinder air…tight; it dropped through the inequalities into the

interior; and 〃played the devil with the solder。〃  Yet; inefficient

though the whitesmith was; Watt could ill spare him; and we find him

writing to Dr。 Roebuck almost in despair; saying; 〃My old white…iron

man is dead!〃 feeling his loss to be almost irreparable。  His next

cylinder was cast and bored at Carron; but it was so untrue that it

proved next to useless。  The piston could not be kept steam tight;

notwithstanding the various expedients which were adopted of stuffing

it with paper; cork; putty; pasteboard; and old hat。  Even after Watt

had removed to Birmingham; and he had the assistance of Boulton's

best workmen; Smeaton expressed the opinion; when he saw the engine

at work; that notwithstanding the excellence of the invention; it

could never be brought into general use because of the difficulty of

getting its various parts manufactured with sufficient precision。  For

a long time we find Watt; in his letters; complaining to his partner

of the failure of his engines through 〃villainous bad workmanship。〃

Sometimes the cylinders; when cast; were found to be more than an

eighth of an inch wider at one end than the other; and under such

circumstances it was impossible the engine could act with precision。

Yet better work could not be had。  First…rate workmen in machinery did

not as yet exist; they were only in process of education。  Nearly

everything had to be done by hand。  The tools used were of a very

imperfect kind。  A few ill…constructed lathes; with some drills and

boring…machines of a rude sort; constituted the principal furniture

of the workshop。  Years after; when Brunel invented his

block…machines; considerable time elapsed before he could find

competent mechanics to construct them; and even after they had been

constructed he had equal difficulty in finding competent hands to

work them。*

 'footnote。。。

BEAMISH'S Memoir of Sir I。 M。 Brunel; 79; 80。

 。。。'



Watt endeavoured to remedy the defect by keeping certain sets of

workmen to special classes of work; allowing them to do nothing else。

Fathers were induced to bring up their sons at the same bench with

themselves; and initiate them in the dexterity which they had

acquired by experience; and at Soho it was not unusual for the same

precise line of work to be followed by members of the same family for

three generations。  In this way as great a degree of accuracy of a

mechanical kind was arrived at was practicable under the

circumstances。  But notwithstanding all this care; accuracy of fitting

could not be secured so long as the manufacture of steam…engines was

conducted mainly by hand。  There was usually a considerable waste of

steam; which the expedients of chewed paper and greased hat packed

outside the piston were insufficient to remedy; and it was not until

the invention of automatic machine…tools by the mechanical engineers

about to be mentioned; that the manufacture of the steam…engine

became a matter of comparative ease and certainty。  Watt was compelled

to rest satisfied with imperfect results; arising from imperfect

workmanship。  Thus; writing to Dr。 Small respecting a cylinder 18

inches in diameter; he said; 〃at the worst place the long diameter

exceeded the short by only three…eighths of an inch。〃  How different

from the state of things at this day; when a cylinder five feet wide

will be rejected as a piece of imperfect workmanship if it be found

to vary in any part more than the 80th part of an inch in diameter!



Not fifty years since it was a matter of the utmost difficulty to set

an engine to work; and sometimes of equal difficulty to keep it

going。  Though fitted by competent workmen; it often would not go at

all。  Then the foreman of the factory at which it was made was sent

for; and he would almost live beside the engine for a month or more;

and after easing her here and screwing her up there; putting in a new

part and altering an old one; packing the piston and tightening the

valves; the machine would at length begot to work。*

 'footnote。。。

There was the same clumsiness in all kinds of mill…work before the

introduction of machine…tools。  We have heard of a piece of machinery

of the old school; the wheels of which; when set to work; made such a

clatter that the owner feared the engine would fall to pieces。  The

foreman who set it agoing; after working at it until he was almost in

despair; at last gave it up; saving; 〃I think we had better leave the

cogs to settle their differences with one another:  they will grind

themselves right in time!〃

 。。。'

Now the case is altogether different。  The perfection of modern

machine…tools is such that the utmost possible precision is secured;

and the mechanical engineer can calculate on a degree of exactitude

that does not admit of a deviation beyond the thousandth part of an

inch。  When the powerful oscillating engines of the 'Warrior' were put

on board that ship; the parts; consisting of some five thousand

separate pieces; were brought from the different workshops of the

Messrs。 Penn and Sons; where they had been made by workmen who knew

not the places they were to occupy; and fitted together with such

precision that so soon as the steam was raised and let into the

cylinders; the immense machine began as if to breathe and move like a

living creature; stretching its huge arms like a new…born giant; and

then; after practising its strength a little and proving its

soundness in body and limb; it started off with the power of above a

thousand horses to try its strength in breasting the billows of the

North Sea。



Such are among the triumphs of modern mechanical engineering; due in

a great measure to the perfection of the tools by means of which all

works in metal are now fashioned。  These tools are themselves among

the most striking results of the mechanical invention of the day。

They are automata of the most perfect kind; rendering the engine and

machine…maker in a great measure independent of inferior workmen。  For

the machine tools have no unsteady hand; are not careless nor clumsy;

do not work by rule of thumb; and cannot make mistakes。  They will

repeat their operations a thousand times without tiring; or varying

one hair's breadth in their action; and will turn out; without

complaining; any quantity of work; all of like accuracy and finish。

Exercising as they do so remarkable an influence on the development

of modem industry; we now propose; so far as the materials at our

disposal will admit; to give an account of their principal inventors;

beginning with the school of Bramah。





CHAPTER XI。



JOSEPH BRAMAH。



〃The great Inventor is one who has walked forth upon the industrial

world; not from universities; but from hovels; not as clad in silks

and decked with honours; but as clad in fustian and grimed with soot

and oil。〃ISAAC TAYLOR; Ultimate Civilization。





The inventive faculty is so strong in some men that it may be said to

amount to a passion; and cannot be restrained。  The saying that the

poet is born; not made; applies with equal force to the inventor;

who; though indebted like the other to culture and improved

opportunities; nevertheless invents and goes on inventing mainly to

gratify his own instinct。  The inventor; however; is not a creator

like the poet; but chiefly a finder…out。  His power consists in a

great measure in quick perception and accurate observation; and in

seeing and foreseeing the effects of certain mechanical combinations。

He must possess the gift of insight; as well as of manual dexterity;

combined with the indispensable qualities of patience and

perseverance;for though baffled; as he often is; he must be ready

to rise up again unconquered even in the moment of defeat。  This is

the stuff of which the greatest inventors have been made。  The subject

of the following memoir may not be entitled to take rank as a

first…class inventor; though he was a most prolific one; but; as the

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