Part 9 (1/2)
He was so pleased with my addition to his class-rooreat thanks for my services, he most handsomely presented me with a free ticket to his Natural Philosophy class as a regular student, so long as it suited me to make use of his instruction
But far beyond this, as a reward for reat philosopher, was the kindly manner in which he on all occasions coinal and reat fundaarded the principles of Dynamics and the Philosophy of Mechanics The clear viehich he communicated in his conversation, as well as in his admirable lectures, vividly illustrated by the experie to me; and I had every reason to consider his friendshi+p and his teaching as ast the most iineer
Having referred to the Edinburgh School of Arts, I feel it necessary to say soin of that excellent institution
A coh was fore in which working es of instruction in the principles on which their various occupations were conducted A the committee were Leonard Horner, Francis Jeffrey, Henry cockburn, John Murray of Henderland, Alexander Bryson, James Mline, John Miller, the Lord Provost, and various members of the Council Their efforts succeeded, and the institution was founded The classes were opened in 1821, in which year I became a student
In order to supply the students, ere chiefly youngclass, with sound instruction in the various branches of science, the lectures were delivered and the classes were superintended by men of established ability in their several departularly pursued frohest point of scientific instruction
The consecutive lectures and examinations extended, as in the University, from October to May in each year's session It was, in fact, our first technical college In these later days when so many of our so-called Mechanics' Institutes are -clubs for the middle classes, and the lectures are delivered for the ' s areatly departed fron hich Mechanics'
Institutions were founded
As the Edinburgh School of Arts was intended for the benefit ofafter the day's as over The lectures on cheiven by Dr Fyfe --an excellent man His clearness of style, his successful experiraphic method by which he carried his students frohest points of chemical science, attracted a crowded and attentive audience Not less interesting were the lectures on Mechanical Philosophy, which in my time were delivered by Dr Lees and MrBuchanan The class of Geoh the attendance was not so great
The building which the directors had secured for the lecture-hall and class-rooms of the institution was situated at the lower end of Niddry Street, nearly under the great arch of the South Bridge It had been built about a hundred years before, and was forave periodical concerts of vocal and instrumental music The orchestra was now converted into a noble lecture table, with accoht be required for the purposes of illustration The seats were arranged in the body of the hall in concentric segments, with the lecture table as their centre In an alcove fight opposite the lecturer ht often be seen the directors of the institution-- Jeffrey, Horner, Murray, and others--who took every opportunity of dignifying by their presence this noble gathering of earnest and intelligent working men
A library of scientific books was soon added to the institution, by purchases or by gifts Such was the eagerness to have a chance of getting the book you wanted that I re on many occasions for so of the door on an evening library night It was as crowded as if I had been standing at the gallery door of the theatre on a night when souished star from London was about to et a good place in the lecture-room, as near to the lecture table as possible, especially on the cheular attendance at this adlad to find that it still continues in active operation In Noveh School of Arts amounted to two thousand five hundred! I have been led to this prolix account of the beginning of the institution by the feeling that I owe a deep debt of gratitude to it, and because of the instructive and intellectually enjoyable evenings which I spent there, in fittingupon the practical work of h School of Arts had a considerable effect throughout the country Similar institutions were established, lectures were delivered, and the necessary illustrations were acquired--above all, the working ine
There was quite a run uponmodel waspresented to the Alloa Mechanics' Institute; the fourth was manufactured for Mr G Buchanan, who lectured on hout the country; and the fifth was supplied to a Mr Offley, an English gentleman who took a fancy for the model when he came to purchase soed for my models was 10; and with the pecuniary results I made over one-third to my father, as a sort of help to remunerate him for my ”keep,” and with the rest I purchased tickets of admission to certain classes in the University I attended the Chemistry course under Dr Hope; the Geometry and Mathematical course under Professor Wallace; and the Natural Philosophy course under my valued friend and patron Professor Leslie What withoccupations, ot up early in the s to work at ht to do the brass castings inthe day-ti the University classes The way in which I converted my bedroom into a brass foundry was as follows: I took up the carpet so that therebut the bare boards to be injured by the heat My furnace in the grate was made of four plates of stout sheet-iron, lined with fire-brick, corner to corner To get the requisite sharp draught I bricked up with single bricks the front of the fireplace, leaving a hole at the back of the furnace for the short pipe just to fit into The fuel was generally gas coke and cinders saved from the kitchen The heat I raised was superb--a white heat, sufficient to ht pounds of brass
Then I had a box of ently ra But how did I get my brass? All the old brassworks in my father's workshop drawers and boxes were laid under contribution This brass being for the most part soft and yellow, I made it extra hard by the addition of a due proportion of tin It was then capable of retaining a fine edge When I had exhausted the stock of old brass, I had to buy old copper, or new, in the forot or tile copper, and when ht of pure tin, which yielded the strongest alloy of the two metals When cast into any required forrain, and so durable in resisting wear and tear This is the true bronze or gun metal
When s, until the whole of the moulds were filled After the metal cooled it was taken out; and when the room was sorted up no one could have known that my foundry operations had been carried on in ht over ht, as I did occasionally on the sly Soht to have been asleep I was detected by the sound of the ra boxes On such occasionshis orders by rapping on the ceiling of his bedrooht wooden rod of ten feet that he kept fora bit of old carpet underboxes as a non-conductor of sound, so that no ra could afterwards be heard My dear eso continuously She would co at the lathe or the vice, and say, ”Ye'll kill yerself, laddie, by working so hard and so late” Yet she took a great pride in seeing me so busy and so happy
Nearly the whole of ine models were ether with ements in my bedroo But I had at times to avail myself of the slass, had established in the neighbourhood He had begun business as ”a jobbing setic worke trade in steaines
When I had any part of a job in hand that was beyond the capabilities ofapparatus, I ilass's s on er class of work
His place was only about five minutes' walk fro-lathe, which wasor heavy work than the lathe at ho had to be done, a forge fire and anvil were always placed atines I had a rather neat and handy way of constructing them The boss of the wheel of brass was nicely bored; the arm-holes were carefully drilled and taped, so as to allow the arms which I had turned to be screwed in and appear like neat coluht iron or steel screwed into the boss of the flywheel
In return for the great kindness of George Douglass in allowing me to have the use of his foundry, I resolved to present him with a speci a ine than I had as yet atte-lathe and the other tools and ly set to work and constructed a direct-acting, high-pressure steaine, with a cylinder four inches in dia, because I dispensed with the beaenerally considered the correctthe action of the piston to the crank
The result of ine, which set all the lathes and mechanical tools in brisk activity ofeffect upon the worklass afterwards told me that the busy hum of the wheels, and the active, sh soency, so quickened the stroke of every hammer, chisel, and file in his workmen's hands, that it nearly doubled the output of work for the sa upon the workmen's hands cannot be better illustrated than by a story told me by my father A master tailor in a country town eic melodrama performed by some players in a booth at the fair A very slow, doleful, but catching air was played, which so laid hold of the tailors' fancy that for so the doleful ditty, theti that should have been sent home on Saturday was not finished until the Wednesday following Theof a philosopher, sent his ed that they should be treated with lively merry airs
The result was that the lively airs displaced the doleful ditty; and the tailors' needles again reverted to even more than their accustomed quickness
However true the story ard to the stimulation of activity by the rapid movements or sounds of ht or hearing We all know the influence of a quickof a regiment of soldiers
It is the saine upon the activity of worklass, derived other advantages fro of an enterprising disposition he added another iron foundry to his s tools, and in course of tiricultural purposes These were used in lieu of horse power for thrashi+ng corn, and perfor several operations that used to be done by hand labour in the far the chiines were as fah as corn stacks All the large farms, especially in Midlothian and East Lothian, were supplied with his steae; and in course of time he was enabled to retire with a considerable fortune
In addition to the stealass, I received an order to
His machines had before been driven by hand labour; but as his business extended, the ine of two-horse pohich was duly constructed and set to work, and gave hie] James Nasmyth's Expansometer, 1826
I inal contrivance was an Expanso in bulk all metals and solid substances The object to be experimented on was introduced into a tube of brass, with as much water round it as to fill the tube The apparatus was then plunged into a vessel of boiling water, or heated to boiling point; when the total expansion of the bar was raving