第 68 节
作者:铲除不公      更新:2021-03-08 19:38      字数:9320
  years since Mr。 Roberts added a useful companion to the Jacquard
  punching machine; in his combined self…acting machine for shearing
  iron and punching both webs of angle or T iron simultaneously to any
  required pitch; though this machine; like others which have proceeded
  from his fertile brain; is ahead even of this fast…manufacturing age;
  and has not yet come into general use; but is certain to do so before
  many years have elapsed。
  These inventions were surely enough for one man to have accomplished;
  but we have not yet done。  The mere enumeration of his other
  inventions would occupy several pages。  We shall merely allude to a
  few of them。  One was his Turret Clock; for which he obtained the
  medal at the Great Exhibition of 1851。  Another was his Prize
  Electro…Magnet of 1845。  When this subject was first mentioned to him;
  he said he did not know anything of the theory or practice of
  electro…magnetism; but he would try and find out。  The result of his
  trying was that he won the prize for the most powerful
  electro…magnet:  one is placed in the museum at Peel Park; Manchester;
  and another with the Scottish Society of Arts; Edinburgh。  In 1846 he
  perfected an American invention for making cigars by machinery;
  enabling a boy; working one of his cigar…engines; to make as many as
  5000 in a day。  In 1852 he patented improvements in the construction;
  propelling; and equipment of steamships; which have; we believe; been
  adopted to a certain extent by the Admiralty; and a few years later;
  in 1855; we find him presenting the Secretary of War with plans of
  elongated rifle projectiles to be used in smooth…bore ordnance with a
  view to utilize the old…pattern gun。  His head; like many inventors of
  the time; being full of the mechanics of war; he went so far as to
  wait upon Louis Napoleon; and laid before him a plan by which
  Sebastopol was to be blown down。  In short; upon whatever subject he
  turned his mind; he left the impress of his inventive faculty。  If it
  was imperfect; he improved it; if incapable of improvement; and
  impracticable; he invented something entirely new; superseding it
  altogether。  But with all his inventive genius; in the exercise of
  which Mr。 Roberts has so largely added to the productive power of the
  country; we regret to say that he is not gifted with the commercial
  faculty。  He has helped others in their difficulties; but forgotten
  himself。  Many have profited by his inventions; without even
  acknowledging the obligations which they owed to him。  They have used
  his brains and copied his tools; and the 〃sucked orange〃 is all but
  forgotten。  There may have been a want of worldly wisdom on his part;
  but it is lamentable to think that one of the most prolific and
  useful inventors of his time should in his old age be left to fight
  with poverty。
  Mr。 Whitworth is another of the first…class tool…makers of Manchester
  who has turned to excellent account his training in the workshops of
  Maudslay and Clement。  He has carried fully out the system of
  uniformity in Screw Threads which they initiated; and he has still
  further improved the mechanism of the planing machine; enabling it to
  work both backwards and forwards by means of a screw and roller
  motion。  His 〃Jim Crow Machine;〃 so called from its peculiar motion in
  reversing itself and working both ways; is an extremely beautiful
  tool; adapted alike for horizontal; vertical; or angular motions。  The
  minute accuracy of Mr。 Whitworth's machines is not the least of their
  merits; and nothing will satisfy him short of perfect truth。  At the
  meeting of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers at Glasgow in 1856
  he read a paper on the essential importance of possessing a true
  plane as a standard of reference in mechanical constructions; and he
  described elaborately the true method of securing it;namely; by
  scraping; instead of by the ordinary process of grinding。  At the same
  meeting he exhibited a machine of his invention by which he stated
  that a difference of the millionth part of an inch in length could at
  once be detected。  He also there urged his favourite idea of
  uniformity; and proper gradations of size of parts; in all the
  various branches of the mechanical arts; as a chief means towards
  economy of productiona principle; as he showed; capable of very
  extensive application。  To show the progress of tools and machinery in
  his own time; Mr。 Whitworth cited the fact that thirty years since
  the cost of labour for making a surface of cast…iron trueone of the
  most important operations in mechanicsby chipping and filing by the
  hand; was 12s。 a square foot; whereas it is now done by the planing
  machine at a cost for labour of less than a penny。  Then in machinery;
  pieces of 74 reed printing…cotton cloth of 29 yards each could not be
  produced at less cost than 30s。 6d。 per piece; whereas the same
  description is now sold for 3s。 9d。  Mr。 Whitworth has been among the
  most effective workers in this field of improvement; his tools taking
  the first place in point of speed; accuracy; and finish of work; in
  which respects they challenge competition with the world。  Mr。
  Whitworth has of late years been applying himself with his accustomed
  ardour to the development of the powers of rifled guns and
  projectiles;a branch of mechanical science in which he confessedly
  holds a foremost place; and in perfecting which he is still occupied。
  CHAPTER XV。
  JAMES NASMYTH。
  〃By Hammer and Hand
  All Arts doth stand。〃
  Hammermen's Motto。
  The founder Of the Scotch family of Naesmyth is said to have derived
  his name from the following circumstance。  In the course of the feuds
  which raged for some time between the Scotch kings and their powerful
  subjects the Earls of Douglas; a rencontre took place one day on the
  outskirts of a Border village; when the king's adherents were
  worsted。  One of them took refuge in the village smithy; where;
  hastily disguising himself; and donning a spare leathern apron; he
  pretended to be engaged in assisting the smith with his work; when a
  party of the Douglas followers rushed in。  They glanced at the
  pretended workman at the anvil; and observed him deliver a blow upon
  it so unskilfully that the hammer…shaft broke in his hand。  On this
  one of the Douglas men rushed at him; calling out; 〃Ye're nae smyth!〃
  The assailed man seized his sword; which lay conveniently at hand;
  and defended himself so vigorously that he shortly killed his
  assailant; while the smith brained another with his hammer; and; a
  party of the king's men having come to their help; the rest were
  speedily overpowered。  The royal forces then rallied; and their
  temporary defeat was converted into a victory。  The king bestowed a
  grant of land on his follower 〃Nae Smyth;〃 who assumed for his arms a
  sword between two hammers with broken shafts; and the motto 〃Non arte
  sed Marte;〃 as if to disclaim the art of the Smith; in which he had
  failed; and to emphasize the superiority of the warrior。  Such is said
  to be the traditional origin of the family of Naesmyth of Posso in
  Peeblesshire; who continue to bear the same name and arms。
  It is remarkable that the inventor of the steam…hammer should have so
  effectually contradicted the name he bears and reversed the motto of
  his family; for so far from being 〃Nae Smyth;〃 he may not
  inappropriately be designated the very Vulcan of the nineteenth
  century。  His hammer is a tool of immense power and pliancy; but for
  which we must have stopped short in many of those gigantic
  engineering works which are among the marvels of the age we live in。
  It possesses so much precision and delicacy that it will chip the end
  of an egg resting in a glass on the anvil without breaking it; while
  it delivers a blow of ten tons with such a force as to be felt
  shaking the parish。  It is therefore with a high degree of
  appropriateness that Mr。 Nasmyth has discarded the feckless hammer
  with the broken shaft; and assumed for his emblem his own magnificent
  steam…hammer; at the same time reversing the family motto; which he
  has converted into 〃Non Marte sed Arte。〃
  James Nasmyth belongs to a family whose genius in art has long been
  recognised。  His father; Alexander Nasmyth of Edinburgh; was a
  landscape…painter of great eminence; whose works are sometimes
  confounded with those of his son Patrick; called the English Hobbema;
  though his own merits are peculiar and distinctive。  The elder Nasmyth
  was also an admirable portrait painter; as his head of Burnsthe
  best ever painted of the poetbears ample witness。  His daughters;
  the Misses Nasmyth; were highly skilled painters of landscape; and
  their works are well known and much prized。  James; the youngest of
  the family; inherits the same love of art; though his name is more
  extensively known as a worker and inventor in iron。  He was born at
  Edinburgh; on the 19th of August; 1808; and his attention was early