Part 19 (1/2)

All that was then required to produce a most effective hammer was simply to admit steam of sufficient pressure into the cylinder, so as to act on the under-side of the piston, and thus to raise the hammer-block attached to the end of the piston rod By a very siement of a slide valve, under the control of all attendant, the steam was allowed to escape and thus permit the ravity upon the work then upon the anvil

Thus, by the more or less rapid manner in which the attendant allowed the steam to enter or escape from the cylinder, any required number or any intensity of blows could be delivered Their succession ht be arrested and suspended according to the requireht thus, as it were, think in blows Hemass, and mould or knead it into the desired forentle taps according to his will, or at the desire of the forgeman

Rude and rapidly sketched out as it was, this, my first delineation of the steam hammer, will be found to comprise all the essential ele retains to this day the foro

I believed that the steam hammer would prove practically successful; and I looked forward to its general e of heavy ratification to me nohen I look over my rude and hasty first sketch, to find that I hit the eneral structure but in the details; and that the invention as I then conceived it and put it into shape, still retains its forements intact in the thousands of steaood service in the hout the civilised world

But to return to my correspondence with the Great Western Steamshi+p Company I wrote at once to Mr Humphries, and sent him a sketch of my proposed steam hammer I told him that I felt assured he would now be able to overcome his difficulty, and that the paddle-shaft of the Great Britain n He subineer-in-chief of the stea director; and to other persons interested in the undertaking,--by all of whoave the Coe proprietors as ht feel disposed to erect the stea, that in the event of its being adopted I was to be allowed to supply it in accordance with n

But the paddle-shaft of the Great Britain was never forged About that time the substitution of the Screw for the paddle-wheel as aed by Mr Francis P Smith, were so satisfactory that Mr Brunel, after he had made an excursion in that vessel, reco power After ed advice The consequence was, that the great engines which Mr Huned, and which were far advanced in construction, were given up, to his inexpressible regret and hest hopes as a practical engineer on the results of their performance And, to crown his distress, he was ordered to produce fresh designs of engines specially suited for screw propulsion

Mr Huuine constitution of one, and perhaps the disappointment of his hopes, proved too much for him; and a brain fever carried him off after a few days' illness

There was thus, for a ti the paddle-shaft of the Great Britain

Very bad tis, set in about this time A wide-spread depression affected all conditions of industry Although I wrote to the heads of all the great fir designs of le order It is true, they cordially approved of reatly struck by its simplicity, unity, and apparent power

[footnote

Aratulations on n, were Benja and ard; Messrs Rushton and Eckersley, Bolton Ironworks; Messrs Howard and Ravenhill, Rotherhithe Ironworks, London; Messrs Hawkes, Crashaw, and Coe Thorneycroft, Wolverhampton; and others

But the substance of their replies was, that they had not sufficient orders to keep the forge hammers they already possessed in work

They pro from its depression, they would probably adopt the neer

In the meantime my invention was taken up in an entirely new and unexpected quarter I had for soestablishland for the purpose of purchasing various machine tools required for the production of the ponderous as well as the lighter parts of their n visitors every facility and opportunity for seeing our own tools at work, and they were often so much pleased that, when they caas their most effective advertisements

In like n visitors

[footnote

Some establishments in the saners; but to our views, restriction in the coners of intelligence and enterprising spirit served no good purpose, as the foreign engineer was certain to obtain all the infors in the Patent Office, or fro publications of the day It was better to derive the advantage of supplying them with the machines they were in quest of, than to wait until the deners thehts that were passing through s I did not hesitate to advocate the advantage ofheavyin my Scheme Book in confirmation of my views The book was kept in the office to be handy for such occasions; and inideas of machine tools to our custoht not have been obtained without this effective n visitors was M Schneider, proprietor of the great ironworks at Creuzot, in France

We had supplied him with various machine tools, and he was so pleased with their action that the next tiland he called at our office at Patricroft M Bourdon, his er, accompanied him

I happened to be absent on a journey at the ti theht them my Scheme Book and allowed the of my steam hammer, and told them the purpose for which it was intended They were impressed with its simplicity and apparent practical utility,--so much so, that M Bourdon took careful notes and sketches of the constructive details of the hammer

I was informed on my return of the visit of MMSchneider and Bourdon, but the circuns in n of the steaarded by my partner as too ordinary and trivial an incident of their visit to be ns to visitors at the Foundry was a matter of alnorance of the fact that these foreign visitors had taken with them to France a copy of the plan and details of my steam hammer

It was not until my visit to France in April 1842 that the upshot of their visit was brought under my notice in an extraordinary manner

I was requested by M Bouchier, Minister of Marine, to visit the French dockyards and arsenals for the purpose of conferring with the director of each with reference to the supply of various ine factories in connection with the Royal Dockyards In order to render this journey more effective and instructive, I visitedestablishments which had been supplied with st these was of course the famous firm of Schneider, whose works at Creuzot lay not far out of the way of ly h M Schneider was absent

M Bourdon received lish with fluency I was fortunate in finding hi which, one of the things that particularly struck ine single crank, forged with a reeneral fore eye of the crank had been punched and drifted with extraordinary smoothness and truth

I inquired of M Bourdon ”how that crank had been forged?”

His ied by your stea this statement

I asked him how he had come to be acquainted with my steam hammer?

He then narrated the circuexhibited to hin, and how much he was struck by its simplicity and probable efficiency; that he had taken careful note and sketches on the spot; that as he did after his return to Creuzot was to put in hand the necessary work for the erection of a steam hamh expectations he had fore departht, as he said, ”seechild of my brain Until then it had only existed in my scheme book; and yet it had often and often been beforethe steam hammer I found that Bourdon had omitted some important details, which had led to a fewof the piston-rod at its junction with the hammer block He had effected this, in the usual way, by h the rod; but he toldthe action of the hammer I sketched for hi under the end of the piston-rod, which acted, as I told hie between the bones of the vertebrae, preventing the destructive effects of violent jars

I also communicated to him a few other important details, which he had reat pleasure in doing so, as I found Bourdon to be a hly able to appreciate the practical value of the inforation to me in the warmest terms, and the alterations which he shortly afterwards effected in the steam hammer, in accordance withthat he could desire