Isambard Brunel

“ Without detracting in the least from your merit of invention, the form has been so frequently and exactly applied that no patent could hold. The Saltash bridge now just advertised for letting is exactly on the same principle as regards form; and this is so old to my knowledge that I can claim no invention, and the use of cast iron for such purpose is also incapable of being patented. There is much that is good in your bridge, and you deserve credit, but you would find innumerable claimants to dispute, and successfully, your attempt to claim a monopoly by a patent—I myself for one. ”

“ As to the use of the sails, while the engines are nevertheless in full action, it must be entirely a matter of experiment, and an experiment in which, again, all previous habits and prejudices must be set aside.
Whether a sail steadies such a ship usefully or not can be, and must therefore be, positively determined by measurement with proper instruments, and not by the sensations; and the result upon the speed of the vessel as compared with the power expended must, in like manner, be ascertained by positive observations and measurements. No past experience can do other than mislead. ”

“ A Board of Directors has a perfect right to dispense with the services of an engineer, or to lay down any rules of conduct they may think fit, and to engineer the works themselves, either as a body or by appointing one of their members, if they think fit; but if they desire to have the advice and responsibility of any respectable engineer—at all events, if they wish to have mine—they must place the usual amount of confidence in me ”

“ He quite agreed as to the desirability of protecting, as far as possible, a man’s property, whether it was in the power of invention, or any other good thing that was within him, and still more would he protect in every possible way the property in inventions of those who possessed but little other property—the powers of the inventor and the ingenuity of the workman; but, having had some considerable experience with patentees, manufacturers, and workmen, he was of opinion that any practical benefits derived from the patent laws did not compensate for the injury inflicted. ”

“ The next point I shall consider is the construction of the engines, the modifications in which, necessary to adapt them to higher speeds than usual, have, like the increased width of gauge, been condemned as innovations.
I shall not attempt to argue with those who consider any increase of speed unnecessary. The public will always prefer that conveyance which is most perfect, and speed within reasonable limits is a material ingredient in perfection in travelling. ”

“ Among this class of men, some have been employed in the most perilous enterprises, when each individual must have acted upon his sole judgment, where, in fact, there is no room for an engineer to instruct and direct their efforts. How easy it is to attack everything, to detract from the merits of the best plan. There is always some weak point which may be open to the penetration of the shallowest mind. ”

“ Brunel—were most arduous. To design and construct a steam-ship larger than any that had, up to that time, been launched, to make this ship of a material which had but lately been introduced into shipbuilding, and which had never before been employed on a large scale, to adapt to this ship a novel form of propeller which had not previously been used save in a merely experimental steamer, and to build in a newly opened manufactory marine engines of a much greater size than any that had hitherto been contemplated, and of a totally different character, was indeed a bold enterprise. ”

“ The term ‘Consulting Engineer’ is a very vague one, and in practice has been too much used to mean a man who for a consideration sells his name, but nothing more. Now I never connect myself with an engineering work except as the Directing Engineer, who, under the Directors, has the sole responsibility and control of the engineering, and is therefore ‘The Engineer;’ and I have always objected to the term ‘Consulting Engineer.’ ...
In a railway the only works to be constructed are engineering works, and there can really be only one engineer ”

“ The principle of construction of the ship is in fact entirely new, if merely from the rule which I have laid down, and shall rigidly preserve, that no materials shall be employed on any part except at the place, and in the direction, and in the proportion, in which it is required, and can be usefully employed for the strength of the ship, and none merely for the purpose of facilitating the framing and first construction. ”

“ It is indispensable, therefore, to secure as far as possible a machine which shall be perfect in all its details from the moment of its completion. There may be time for a few trials for ascertaining the fact of its completion, but there will be none for effecting any alterations should they be found necessary, or for making any experiments. The machinery which you require to be so perfect is by no means an ordinary steam-engine.
Marine engines of 80 or 90, and even some of 100 horse-power, are mere models on a large scale of the ordinary-sized engines. ”

“ For, in the simplest branch of construction, rules may be followed literally without any security as to the result. There is hardly a branch of engineering that could have been selected which in its present state is less capable of being made the subject of fixed laws or instructions than the application of iron to railway structures, and certainly there is no branch in which there is more room for improvement, or which offers so many different channels or directions for that improvement. ”

“ A sailor will no doubt receive with disgust and as an insult the suggestion of the possibility of his running his ship ashore. We cannot afford, however, to rest contented with this expression of feeling, natural and praiseworthy as it may be: our circumstances are totally different; and that which is considered certainly as a serious evil, but still only an evil more or less serious, would be to us fatal; it is no longer a question of degree of injury—it is death. ”

“ A man of sense and observation, with a good mechanical head, and with decision and courage, would succeed without much previous nautical knowledge; but, unquestionably, a man familiar with all that is going on around would be much more competent, provided he does not allow his habits derived from former experience to induce him to neglect any of the new means of information in his power, to all which his former knowledge should be made subservient. ”

“ Having, then, all his life, been connected with inventors and workmen, he had witnessed the injury, the waste of mind, the waste of time, the excitement of false hopes, the vast waste of money, caused by the patent laws, in fact, all the evils which generally resulted from the attempt to protect that which did not naturally admit of protection. He agreed as to the abstract desirability of protecting inventors in some way, provided it did not foster unhealthy invention, as he thought it desirable to protect every species of property that existed. ”

“ In a few words, however, I will state that I disapprove strongly, and after full consideration, of any introduction into England of the system of distinctions conferred by Government upon individuals, whether engaged in professions, arts, or manufactures, whose merits can be so much better and more surely marked by public opinion. In countries where public opinion is not so searching and so powerful as in England, the evils of favouritism may be out-balanced by the advantages of some means of distinguishing men. ”

“ And notwithstanding the heavy responsibility which rests upon me, from all which you gentlemen of science are, happily for yourselves, so free, I feel that as regards the works of the Box Tunnel everything necessary has been done to render them secure, and that the doubts and fears you have so easily raised, but which it might be more difficult again to set at rest, are entirely unfounded. ”

“ So in trussed framework of wood or iron, experience shows that you cannot refine too much upon the perfection of the designing of every little detail by which all strains are carried exactly through the centres of the rods or struts and the centres of the bearing surfaces. And remember, always in retaining walls to give plenty of batter; never build an upright wing-wall, or retaining wall. To a man who has an instinctively mechanical mind—and no other can be an engineer—the advice I have given you above is all I need say ”

“ I shall assume, and I am not aware that it is disputed by anybody, that stationary power, if freed from the weight and friction of any medium of communication, such as a rope, must be cheaper, is more under command, and is susceptible of producing much higher speeds than locomotive power; and when it is considered that for high speeds, such as sixty miles per hour, the locomotive engine with its tender cannot weigh much less than half of the gross weight of the train, the advantage and economy of dispensing with the necessity of putting this great weight also in motion will be evident. ”

“ There are instances where enormous sums have been spent in this manner to protect an original invention.
And, lastly, there is an evil which acts like a numbing disease on all improvements; a patentee frequently dares not himself introduce improvements in any apparatus or process which he has patented, for fear of thus injuring his patent; and I have seen numerous cases of very important inventions where all improvement has been thus checked and resisted by the very parties most capable of effecting them, and who would have brought great talent and zeal to the work if they had been free. ”

“ It is a great error to suppose that stupid men can live upon the clever man’s brains if they are all left free scope in the use of their intellect; but if by artificial means an exclusive right or property in an idea can be secured, then of course the thief may steal the idea, and having registered his property in it, his inferiority of intellect is more than counterbalanced. ”

“ From all that I have said it must be evident to you, gentlemen, that my opinion is strong and decided in favour of the advantage of employing the screw in the new ship; it certainly is so. I am fully aware of the responsibility I take upon myself by giving this advice, I am also fully sensible of the large amount we have at stake, and I have not forgotten the nature and tone of the observations which have on more occasions than one been so freely made by individuals upon the course we have hitherto pursued ”

“ Two machines for the same purpose may be remarkable—one for its ingenuity and beauty of workmanship, but of doubtful practical economy in application; the other clumsy, and not well made, but apparently likely to have the germs of much good—there are thousands, or rather an infinity, of shades of degrees and qualities of merit. ”

“ Brunel had in energetic terms urged the Directors to guard themselves against. He protested against their requiring (as they once intended to do) —
continuous and detailed reports—if true and honest, of course containing nothing but accounts of mishaps—of a system which (he says) we are struggling to render perfect. Why, a daily account of our locomotive mishaps would ruin the locomotive system, if it were new! I will undertake to say that the mishaps of yesterday or to-day on the Great Western Railway were as great as that of Tuesday on the South Devon. ”

“ In conclusion, I must observe that no man can be more sensible than I am of the great advantage it would be to me as a civil engineer to be better acquainted with geology, as well as with many other branches of science, that I have endeavoured to inform myself on the subject, and that I have not altogether thrown away the many opportunities afforded me in my professional pursuits ”

“ I object very much to giving evidence upon the abstract point of the applicability of a particular system, and thus furnishing general opinions which others are to apply as they may choose to particular cases; and if I could, I would refuse to give evidence at all before the present Committee, whatever might be the consequence to the promoters of the Atmospheric System. Circumstances, however, render such a refusal impossible; but I am equally anxious not to be drawn into becoming an advocate of a system. ”

“ The man who takes charge of such a machine, in which is embarked so large a capital, must have a mind capable of setting aside, without forgetting, all his previous experience and habits, and must be prepared to commence as an observer of new facts, and seize rapidly the results. ”

“ In the event of your appointment, it will be a necessary condition that you should be able to commence at once the supervision of the erection of the engines. This work is already much farther advanced than I should have wished it to be before the chief engineer had taken charge of it. I attach great importance to his having that familiar knowledge of all the parts and their condition, which no study of drawings can give so well as actual inspection during erection, and I wish also that he should satisfy himself of the perfect truth of every adjustment. ”