Frederick C. Bakewell

“ The history of the steam engine affords a striking example of the gradual development of an invention from vague and chimerical notions, into an accomplished fact of astonishing magnitude. As in the electric telegraph the dreams of the alchemist are fully realized by the applications of scientific discovery, so in the wonder-working powers of the steam engine one of the visionary schemes sketched in the "Century of Inventions" is practically extended far beyond the conceptions of its fanciful projector. ”

“ It is very curious and interesting, in tracing the progress of an invention, to observe the different phases through which it has passed, before it has been brought into the state in which it is ultimately applied. It not unfrequently happens that the original purpose sinks into insignificance, and is almost lost sight of, as the invention becomes more fully developed. Other objects, that were not perceived, or were considered altogether impracticable, present themselves, and are then pursued; and the invention, when perfected, is very different from its original design. ”

“ The power we now possess of fixing the transient impression of the rays of light, and of retaining the beautiful images of the camera obscura, is perhaps the most astonishing of the present age of wonders. Effects similar to those of the electric telegraph, of steam navigation, of dissolving views, and of other wondrous realizations of inventive genius, had been anticipated in growing tales of Eastern romance centuries ago ”

“ It is extremely interesting to visit a large engineering factory, and to witness the ease with which the masses of crude metal are wrought in various ways, and converted by a number of seemingly self-acting engines into other engines and machines which are,299 in their turn, to become the agents of the further development of the skill and ingenuity of man. In the new Government factory at Keyham, near Devonport, which we believe to be one of the largest establishments of the kind in the world, most of those powerful engines of the best construction may be seen in operation. ”

“ Thus, whilst steam navigation was facilitating the means of intercourse over rivers and seas, and whilst railways and locomotive engines served to bring distant cities within a few hours' journey of each other, another source of power, infinitely more rapid in its action than steam, has been made to transmit intelligence from place to place, and from one country to another, with the speed of lightning. ”

“ The facility of travelling by railway has excited a spirit of locomotion before undreamed of. Instead of the diminished demand for horses which was apprehended when railways displaced stage coaches, public conveyances have increased a hundredfold. We can now scarcely conceive the time when there was not an omnibus in the streets of London, yet, scarcely more than thirty years ago, they were unknown, and travelling by stage carriages from one part of the town to another was prohibited by law! ”

“ The inventive faculty of man tends more directly than any other intellectual power he possesses to raise him in the scale of creation above the brutes. Nearly every advance he makes beyond the exercise of his natural instincts is caused by invention—by that power of the mind which combines known properties in different ways to obtain new results.
When an Indian clothes himself with the skins of animals, and when he collects the dried leaves of the forest for his bed, he is either an original inventor, or he is profiting by the inventions of others. ”

“ In a national and in a social point of view, also, railways have produced important improvements. They tend to equalize the value of land throughout the kingdom, by bringing distant sources of supply nearer the points of consumption; they have given extraordinary stimulus to manufacturing industry; and by connecting all parts of the country more closely together, railway communication has concentrated the energies of the people, and has thus added materially to their wealth, their comforts, and to social intercourse. ”

“ The conducting power of the earth is now employed by all electric telegraph companies for one-half of every circuit. Thus, whether a communication be sent from London to Liverpool, to Edinburgh, Paris, or Brussels, the moist earth serves to complete one-half of the communication. In the telegraphic circuit between London and Liverpool, for example, the insulated wire is connected at each end with the earth by being soldered to a copper plate, which is buried a few feet underground, so as to insure its being always surrounded with moisture. ”

“ STEAM CARRIAGES AND RAILWAYS.
No invention of the present century has produced so great a social change as Steam Locomotion on railways. Not only have places that were formerly more than a day's journey from each other been made accessible in a few hours, but the cost of travelling has been so much reduced, that the expense has in a great degree ceased to operate as a bar to communication by railway for business or pleasure. ”

“ Whenever the history of an invention can be thus tracked backward to its source, it will be found to have advanced to its present state by progressive steps, each additional advance having been dependent on the help given by the progress before made. Sometimes these onward movements are greater and more remarkable than others, and the persons who made them have become distinguished for their inventive genius, and are considered the benefactors of mankind ”

“ Even at the beginning of the present century, it seemed to be more probable that man would be able to navigate the air at will, than that he should be able, without wind or current, and in opposition to both, to propel and steer large ships over the waves; yet, within twenty years afterwards, Steam Navigation had ceased to be a wonder. ”

“ On taking this view of the progress of Steam Navigation, it will be found that the amount of novelty to which each inventor has a claim is very small, and that his principal merit consists in the application of other inventions to accomplish his special object. The same remark will indeed apply to most other inventions; for the utmost that inventive genius can accomplish, is to put together in new forms, and with different applications, preceding contrivances and discoveries, which were also the results of antecedent knowledge, labour, and skill. ”

“ Notwithstanding the great economy of labour by the self-acting machines now employed for doing all kinds of work, it is gratifying to find that it has not had the effect of throwing men out of employ; for the increased demand, consequent on the facility of production, has more than compensated for the substitution of automaton mechanism for handicraft. ”

“ It must be observed, with regard to the action of locomotive engines, that as the piston-rods are attached directly to cranks on the axle, each piston makes a double stroke for every revolution of the driving wheels; consequently, when the engine is running at great speed, the movement of the piston is so rapid, that there is neither time for the free emission of the waste steam, nor for the full action of the high-pressure steam admitted. ”

“ To increase the supply of air, the burner is covered with a glass chimney, which, if not too long, adds to the brilliancy of the flame; but a very long chimney produces so strong a current of air, as to cool the flame, and diminish the light. A plan is sometimes adopted of placing a small metal disc a short distance above the jets, so as to spread the flame. By this means the brightness is increased, by exposing the flame more directly to the current of air; and the metal disc, by becoming heated, also tends to aid the combustion of the carbon. ”

“ Many ingenious men have vainly attempted to apply what has been erroneously called "centrifugal force" as a motive power, conceiving that the effort made by bodies to fly off when whirled round in a circle was occasioned by a force generated by their rotation. The experiment of the "whirling table," which is commonly shown to illustrate centrifugal action, tends to confirm the notion that force is generated; for it is there seen that, when the velocity of rotation is doubled, the centrifugal force is quadrupled, and that it continues to increase in a geometrical ratio. ”

“ Among the smaller self-acting engines, the forging machine for making bolts attracts attention by the rapidity of its action. It consists of a series of hammers placed side by side, so constructed as to shape small bars of iron into any required form, according to the mould of the swages beneath them, representing miniature anvils. It is interesting to watch how readily the hot iron receives its shape under the action of the hammers, which make about 700 strokes per minute, the work being transferred from one to another to be progressively finished. ”

“ Thus, when two platinum wires from the poles of a voltaic battery are introduced into acidulated water, hydrogen gas is disengaged at the wire connected with the negative pole, and oxygen at the other; but when a solution of sulphate of copper is substituted for water, the hydrogen that is disengaged combines with the oxygen that held the copper in solution, and the metal is liberated. The copper thus liberated from its combination with the oxygen is deposited, in a pure metallic state, on the surface connected with the negative pole of the battery. ”

“ In steam-ships, where salt water is used for generating the steam, the incrustation on the sides of the boilers becomes a serious annoyance. It obstructs the communication of heat from the furnace to the water, and the metal is thus liable to become red-hot. Numerous plans have been adopted for the purpose of preventing the accumulation of salt on the sides of the boiler, the most common of which is to allow the water, when saturated with saline matter, to escape, and then to fill the boiler afresh. ”

“ It is, indeed, sometimes difficult to determine whether the alterations made in well-known contrivances are, or are not, of sufficient importance to constitute inventions; and there can be no doubt that there is too great facility afforded, by the indiscriminate grant of letters patent, for the establishment of monopolies that often serve to obstruct further improvements. At the same time, it must be observed5 that a very trifling addition or change occasionally gives practical value to an invention, which had been useless without it. ”

“ A large reservoir of ink at the top of the machine supplies the inking tables, from which it is spread evenly over the inking rollers, and, at each revolution of the type cylinder, nine sheets are printed on one side. They are then taken to a second machine to be printed on the back, or, as it is called, "perfected." The accompanying engraving shows the general arrangement of the machines.
Few mechanical contrivances present so striking an illustration of the application of human ingenuity to the production of important results, and to the saving of labour, as these printing machines. ”

“ The manufacturing progress of this country has depended, in a great degree, on the facility possessed of making machinery of all kinds by the aid of powerful engines worked by steam power. These engines, most of which appear to be self-acting, forge and roll and cut and bore beams of iron, boiler plates, and cylinders of immense size, which it would be impossible to make by hand; and they do the work with a rapidity and mechanical accuracy that would be otherwise unattainable. ”

“ Ranged in a row there are four of these ponderous engines, of various sizes; the largest hammer being so heavy as to require the power of four tons to lift it, and when falling from a height of 6 feet nothing can withstand its crushing blow. Yet the force of this mighty giant is so completely under control, and may be brought to act so gently, as scarcely to crack a nut placed to receive its fall.
The invention of the steam-hammer was the result of necessity. ”

“ In such cases, though the individual merit of the inventor is small, the benefit conferred may be important, and may operate influentially in promoting the progress of civilization.
Scientific discovery goes hand in hand with invention, and they mutually assist each other's progress. Every discovery in science may be applicable to some new purpose, or give greater efficiency to what is old. ”

“ It is a question that has been often mooted, whether it is better to allow the system of communication throughout the country to be conducted by independent companies of enterprising individuals, or to place it entirely under the control of the Government. The want of system manifested in the formation of the railways in England has proved a serious inconvenience, and has occasioned wasteful expenditure, besides having led to a fearful destruction of life, owing to the want of careful attention to the means of safety, and to ill-judged parsimony in the management of the traffic. ”

“ The cleanliness of gas, as compared with candles or oil, is a further recommendation; and for the purpose of lighting streets, shops, factories, public buildings, and halls, it presents important advantages; but it is not well adapted for small sitting rooms, because the heat of the flame makes it unpleasant and injurious to the eyes when near, and, unless very pure, it deteriorates the air of closed apartments. ”

“ Inventors are not now persecuted, as formerly, by those who fancied that their inventions and discoveries were prejudicial to the general interest, and calculated to deprive labour of its fair reward. Some of us are old enough to remember the hostility manifested to the working of the power-loom, the self-acting mule, the machinery for shearing woollen cloth, the thrashing machine, and many others. ”

“ When the receiver is fully charged, and the operation of bottling begins, every bottle-full that is drawn off diminishes the pressure on the water that remains; and if no means were taken to add more gas, the soda-water would gradually become weaker and weaker as each bottle was drawn off. It is usual, in the best arranged apparatus, to have two tubes connected with the force-pump, one of which feeds it with water, the other with gas, by which contrivance water and gas, in their proper proportions, are continually forced into the receiver, which may thus be always kept nearly full. ”

“ The "Rocket" has formed the model on which all subsequent locomotive engines have been constructed; for, though numerous alterations and improvements have been made in details, and though the size of the engines has been greatly enlarged, the principle of construction remains essentially the same. Among the improvements that have been introduced by different inventors, is an increase in the number of the tubes in the boiler, so as to facilitate the generation of steam, some of the engines now made having upwards of 100 tubes, though of smaller diameter than those of the "Rocket." ”

“ Notwithstanding these eminently successful trials of gas lighting, the prejudice against innovation prevented, for several years, the extensive adoption of the plan. As every establishment using gas had to make it, and as the apparatus was costly and imperfectly managed, the expense in the first instance, the trouble, and the noxious smell, presented great obstacles to the introduction of that mode of illumination. The popular notion, also, that streams of flame were rushing along the pipes produced an impression that gas lighting must be very dangerous, which it required time to disprove. ”

“ One great practical inconvenience in the use of the air engine was the necessity of having enormously large cylinders to attain the required power, with the low amount of pressure that can be procured by the expansion of the air. The consequent friction increased the loss of power, and the difficulty of lubricating the pistons added to the practical objections to the air engine. To overcome these objections, the air in Mr. Stirling's engine is compressed before it is heated, by which means an equal amount of pressure is obtained on a smaller piston. ”