Part 11 (1/2)
I must not, however, omit to mention the lodgings taken for me by my father before he left London. It was necessary that they should be near Maudslay's works for the convenience of going and coming.
We therefore looked about in the neighbourhood of Waterloo Road.
One of the houses we visited was situated immediately behind the Surrey theatre. It seemed a very nice tidy house, and my father seemed to have taken a liking for it. But when we were introduced into the room where I was to sleep, he observed an ultra-gay bonnet lying on the bed, with flashy bright ribbons hanging from it. This sight seemed to alter his ideas, and he did not take the lodgings; but took another where there was no such bonnet.
I have no doubt about what pa.s.sed through his mind at the time.
We were in the neighbourhood of the theatre. There was evidently some gay young woman about the house. He thought the position might be dangerous for his son. I afterwards asked him why we had not taken that nice lodging. ”Well,” he said, ”did not you see that ultra-gay bonnet lying on the bed? I think that looks rather suspicious!”
Afterwards he added, ”At all events, James, you will find that though there are many dirty roads in life, if you use your judgment you may always be able to find a clean crossing!” And so the good man left me.
After an affectionate parting he returned to Edinburgh, and I remained in London to work out the plan of my life.
CHAPTER 8. Maudslay's Private a.s.sistant
On the morning of Monday, the 30th of May 1829, I commenced my regular attendance at Mr. Maudslay's workshop. My first job was to a.s.sist him in making some modifications in the details of a machine which he had contrived some years before for generating original screws. I use the word ”generating” as being most appropriate to express the objects and results of one of Mr. Maudslay's most original inventions.
It consisted in the employment of a knife-edged hardened steel instrument, so arranged as to be set at any required angle, and its edge caused to penetrate the surface of a cylindrical bar of soft steel or bra.s.s. This bar being revolved under the incisive action of the angularly placed knife-edged instrument, it thus received a continuous spiral groove cut into its surface. It was then in the condition of a rudimentary screw; the pitch, or interval between the threads, being determined by the greater or less angle of obliquity at which the knife-edged instrument was set with respect to the axis of the cylindrical bars revolving under its incisive action.
The spiral groove, thus generated, was deepened to the required extent by a suitable and pointed hard steel tool firmly held in the jaws of an adjustable slide made for the purpose, as part and parcel of the bed of the machine. In the case of square-threaded screws being required, a square-pointed tool was employed in place of the V or angle-threaded tool. And in order to generate or produce right hand or left hand screws, all that was necessary was to set the knife-edged instrument to a right or left hand inclination in respect to the axis of the cylindrical bar at the outset of the operation.
This beautiful and truly original contrivance became, in the hands of its inventor, the parent of a vast progeny of perfect screws, whose descendants, whether legitimate or not, are to be found in every workshop throughout the world, wherever first-cla.s.s machinery is constructed. The production of perfect screws was one of Maudslay's highest ambitions and his princ.i.p.al technical achievement. It was a type of his invaluable faculty of solving the most difficult problems by the most direct and simple methods.
It was by the same method that he produced the Guide screw.
His screw-cutting lathe was moved by combination wheels, and by its means he could, by the one Guide screw, obtain screws of every variety of pitch and diameter. As an ill.u.s.tration of its complete accuracy I may mention that by its means a screw of five feet in length and two inches in diameter was cut with fifty threads to the inch; the Nut to fit on to it being twelve inches long, and containing six hundred threads! This screw was princ.i.p.ally used for dividing scales for astronomical and other metrical purposes of the highest cla.s.s.
By its means divisions were produced with such minuteness that they could only be made visual by a microscope.
This screw was sent for exhibition to the Society of Arts. It is still preserved with the utmost care at the Lambeth Works amongst the many admirable specimens of Henry Maudslay's inventive genius and delicate handiwork. Every skilled mechanic must thoroughly enjoy the sight of it, especially when he knows that it was not produced by an exceptional tool, but by the machine that was daily employed in the ordinary work of the factory.
I must not, however, omit to say that I took an early opportunity of presenting Brougham's letter of introduction to Faraday at the Royal Inst.i.tution. I was received most cordially by that n.o.ble-minded man, whose face beamed with goodness and kindness. After some pleasant conversation he said he would call upon me at Maudslay's, whom he knew very well. Not long after Faraday called, and found me working beside Maudslay in his beautiful little workshop. A vice had been fitted up for me at the bench where he himself daily worked. Faraday expressed himself as delighted to find me in so enviable a position.
He congratulated me on my special good fortune in having the inestimable advantage of being a.s.sociated as a.s.sistant workman with one of the greatest mechanical engineers of the day.
Mr. Maudslay offered to conduct Faraday through his workshops, and I was permitted to accompany them. I was much impressed with the intelligent conversation of Faraday, as well as with the quickness he exhibited in appreciating not only the general excellence of the design and execution of the works in progress, but his capacity for entering into the technical details of the composite tools and machinery which he saw during his progress through the place. This most pleasant and memorable meeting with the great philosopher initiated a friends.h.i.+p which I had the good fortune to continue until the close of his life.
It was, of course, an immense advantage for me to be so intimately a.s.sociated with Mr. Maudslay in carrying on his experimental work.
I was not, however, his apprentice, but his a.s.sistant workman.
It was necessary, therefore, in his opinion, that I should receive some remuneration for my services. Accordingly, at the conclusion of my first week in his service, he desired me to go to his chief cas.h.i.+er and arrange with him for receiving whatever amount of weekly wages I might consider satisfactory. I went to the counting-house and had an interview with Mr. Young the cas.h.i.+er, a most worthy man*
[footnote...
I may mention that he was brother to Dr. Thomas Young, the celebrated natural philosopher.
Knowing as I did the great advantages of my situation, and having a very modest notion of my own worthiness to occupy it, I said, in answer to Mr. Young's question as to the amount of wages I desired, that ”if he did not think ten s.h.i.+llings a week too much I could do well enough with that.” ”Very well” said he,”let it be so” And he handed me over half a sovereign!
I had determined, after I obtained a situation, not to cost my father another s.h.i.+lling. I knew how many calls he had upon him, at a time when he had his own numerous household to maintain. I therefore resolved, now that I had begun life on my own resources, to maintain myself, and to help him rather than be helped any longer. Thus the first half-sovereign I received from Mr. Young was a great event in my life. It was the first wages, as such, that I had ever received.
I well remember the high satisfaction I felt as I carried it home to my lodgings; and all the more so as I was quite certain that I could, by strict economy and good management, contrive to make this weekly sum of ten s.h.i.+llings meet all my current expenses.
I had already saved the sum of #20, which I placed in the bank as a deposit account. It was the residue of the sale of some of my model steam-engines at Edinburgh. My readers will remember that I brought with me a model steam-engine to show to Mr. Maudslay as a specimen of my handiwork. It had gained for me the situation that I desired, and I was now willing to dispose of it. I found a purchaser in Mr. Watkins, optician at Charing Cross, who supplied such apparatus to lecturers at Mechanics' Inst.i.tutions. He gave me #35 for the model, and I added the sum to my deposit account. This little fund was quite sufficient to meet any expenses beyond those of a current weekly nature.
[Image] My cooking stove*
[footnote...
I have this handy apparatus by me still; and to prove its possession of its full original efficiency I recently set it in action after its rest of fifty years, and found that it yielded results quite equal to my grateful remembrance of its past services.
But I was resolved that my wages alone should maintain me in food and lodging. I therefore directed my attention to economical living.
I found that a moderate dinner at an eating-house would cost move than I could afford to spend. In order to keep within my weekly income I bought the raw materials and cooked them in my own way and to my own taste. I set to and made a drawing of a very simple, compact, and handy cooking apparatus. I took the drawing to a tinsmith near at hand, and in two days I had it in full operation. The apparatus cost ten s.h.i.+llings, including the lamp. As it contributed in no small degree to enable me to carry out my resolution, and as it may serve as a lesson to others who have an earnest desire to live economically, I think it may be useful to give a drawing and a description of my cooking stove. The cooking or meat pan rested on the upper rim of the external cylindrical case, and was easily removable in order to be placed handy for service. The requisite heat was supplied by an oil lamp with three small single wicks, though I found that one wick was enough. I put the meat in the pot, with the other comestibles, at nine o'clock in the morning. It simmered away all day, until half-past six in the evening, when I came home with a healthy appet.i.te to enjoy my dinner. I well remember the first day that I set the apparatus to work. I ran to my lodging, at about four P.M., to see how it was going on. When I lifted the cover it was simmering beautifully, and such a savoury gusto came forth that I was almost tempted to fall to and discuss the contents. But the time had not yet come, and I ran back to my work.