Engineering reminiscences contributed to "Power" and "American machinist"

by Charles T. Porter

Mr. Townsend, the president of the Cambria Company and the leading mover in this enterprise, called the meeting to order and announced that the first question to be settled would be the name of the company. I remarked: “There can be but one name for it: the Porter-Allen Steam-engine Manufacturing Company.” Then Mr. William H. Merrick spoke up: “I don’t know about that; of course, no one can imagine that the manufacture of these engines can employ all the resources of these great works; there is a vast amount of work of the character formerly carried on in them which will naturally flow back to them, and I think the door should be left open for its return.” I expressed my amazement at such a view; I had not come there to revive any old business, but to make the Porter-Allen engine and nothing else; that it must be obvious to any observer that my business only required suitable means for carrying it on to grow to great proportions, and the resources of these works, whatever they were, would need to be greatly enlarged for its use, and besides the name ought to describe and advertise the business. When a vote was taken every man voted for the historic Philadelphia name of the “Southwark Foundry,” to which they added “and Machine Company,” and I discovered that my views had no weight at all. I had afterwards the pleasure of being asked by my friends occasionally what good I supposed that name would do my business.

The next subject was the selection of a president, and my next discovery was that I was not even thought of. If any one had been asked why he had not thought of me he would, from his point of view, very properly have replied that “to commit the interests of this company to a man who had shown so little ability to look out for his own interests did not impress him favorably.” Every vote was cast for William H. Merrick, and I was selected as vice-president, with charge of the manufacturing.

A day or two after, the meeting was held which had been called for the purpose of hearing the report of the patent expert and organizing the company. At this meeting the expert was not prepared to report, as an application for the reissue of an important patent was still pending. Mr. Merrick moved that a temporary organization be then effected, so that we might proceed at once with work on pressing orders. On my assurance that this reissue was certain to be allowed, the motion was adopted and a temporary board of directors was elected. Mr. Merrick and myself were elected president and vice-president respectively. Mr. Merrick told me afterwards that he made the motion because he knew that those twenty-one gentlemen there assembled could never be got together again if this meeting should prove fruitless.

The directors held a meeting immediately after, and at this meeting I presented a letter which I had written to the chairman of the meeting called for organization, setting forth the requirements of the engine for the latest and most improved tools and asking for an immediate appropriation of $100,000 for their purchase, as time was of the utmost consequence. To this Mr. Merrick replied that such action would be entirely unnecessary, saying: “I assure you gentlemen, and I assure Mr. Porter, that for a long time to come he will find in these works everything he can possibly desire.” Of course I could make no reply to this positive statement, and the matter was dropped. We immediately took possession of the works, and a large force of men were put at work cleaning the tools and getting them in working order; I also had my drawings, patterns, and all work in progress brought from Newark and from all shops where it had been commenced. Prominent among these latter were the bed, cylinder and shaft of the first of the 40×48-inch engines which were then ready for finishing.

In about two weeks from the date of this meeting Mr. Goodfellow came into the office pale and trembling with excitement, and addressing himself to me, Mr. Merrick sitting on the opposite side of the table, said: “Mr. Porter, I give it up; we might just as well be set down in a cotton-mill to make steam-engines; there is not a tool in the place that has not spoiled every job that has been put in it, from the day we came here. I don’t believe another such lot of antiquated and worn-out rubbish exists on the face of the earth.” This was not news to me, as I had spent much of my time in the shop. Our most serious disappointment was the condition of their great planer; we had hurried the above-mentioned engine bed on it as soon as it arrived, and when it had been planed the surface plate was laid on the guide-bars, which were 7 feet 6 inches long, and it was found to rock on two diagonal corners more than an eighth of an inch, showing a cross-wind of over half an inch in the whole length of the planer bed; this of course rendered the tool useless in its present condition. I had found that the means for boring the 40-inch cylinder and for finishing the shaft, as well as for doing the other work for this engine, were all equally useless, and I proposed to Mr. Merrick that these parts should all be sent back to the shops from which they had been brought and finished there, and the engine altogether built in outside shops, just as I had built the first one. This he flatly refused to do, saying he would not make such an exposure of our condition. Our plight may be understood when I state that it was over a year before we could deliver that first large engine, although every effort was made to complete it, the castings and forgings waiting for many months.

“But,” exclaims the reader, “why, when this state of affairs was first discovered, were not steps instantly taken to remedy it?” The answer to this question involves a very different subject. When I had received in Newark a letter from Mr. Merrick requesting me to send on my patents for examination by an expert, I was suddenly reminded that I had omitted to obtain the reissue of the latest patent which Mr. Allen had obtained, namely, the one for his adjustable pressure-plate, which had been so shockingly muddled by the Washington agent of the patent solicitors that when we received it we could not understand the specification, and the claims were absolutely meaningless. However, I had said to myself, there will be time enough to have it reissued when it becomes necessary, as applications for reissue are always passed upon immediately. But before sending the patents on, I prepared myself a new and clear specification for that patent and put it in my pocket.

In two or three days I followed the patents to Philadelphia and met the patent solicitor; he told me all the patents seemed to be well enough except this one, and this he could make nothing out of. I told him how that came to be such a muddle, that I always intended to get it reissued and now would employ him to do it. I produced the amended specification I had prepared for that reissue; he read it and handed it back to me, saying it would be of no use to him. I instantly thought of the protest of Mr. Perker: “Really, Mr. Pickwick, really, my dear sir, when one places a matter in the hands of a professional man he must not be interfered with; indeed, he must not, my dear sir, really.” I made an humble apology for my presumption, but asked him if he would get the application in the next day at farthest, that the reissue might be received in time for him to report on it at the meeting called for the organization of the company, then some days distant. He made no reply. I soon found that I had fallen into the hands of a traitor who intended to use his professional power to strangle my enterprise in its birth, and who never did give up his prey until it was torn from his fangs.

Not hearing from him for a day or two, I called to see what was the matter, and was stunned by his telling me that he had determined not to apply for a reissue, but to report against me on the patent as it stood, saying that a reissue could not be got, and if it was it would be good for nothing. I attempted to argue the matter with him, but found him firm. I then went directly to the office of Morgan & Lewis, the attorneys for the company, and told the story. Mr. Morgan said, “I will go and see him at once;” so we went together. The expert repeated his determination to Mr. Morgan, and, anxious that the latter should understand the merits of the case, I presented it to the expert as plainly as I knew how, Mr. Morgan being an attentive listener. Many months afterwards I realized the vital importance of the lesson I then gave to Mr. Morgan. The expert persisted in his determination, but consented to see Mr. Morgan again the next day. On our way back I said to Mr. Morgan: “It seems to me that this man does not see the point of the application because he won’t see it; he doesn’t want to see it.” Mr. Morgan made the rather enigmatical reply: “It seems very plain to me.”

The next day Mr. Morgan made the point to the expert that he could not afford to take such a position as that—he could not sustain it. He then consented to make the application, but added what he had already said to me, that he had no idea it would be granted, and if it was, it would be good for nothing. It will hardly be credited that he was over two months in preparing this application, getting it into a form in which he was sure it could not be allowed. When it was finally shown to me I could not understand it. It contained two references, the pertinence of which I could not see; he assured me, however, that it was the very best that could be done, although he said he had very little hopes that it would be allowed. Sure enough, in a few days the rejection was received from Washington and a meeting was called to hear his report. He used very strong language in making this report, saying: “This rejection is final and the case is hopeless,” and walking over to where I was sitting, he shook a paper in my face with an air as if I had been a detected felon and he held in his hand the proof of my rascality, saying: “This is a paper I received from Washington this morning that settles your hash, sir.” When he sat down the silence might have been felt. Every one shrank from what appeared to them the inevitable and final step, the adoption of a resolution to the effect: “Whereas Mr. Porter has failed to keep his agreement with us, the whole matter be now dismissed from our further consideration.”

I did not allow them much time for reflection, but rose and made a little speech as follows: “Mr. Chairman, I have but a single word to say. I have taken this case out of the expert’s hands; I expect to go to Washington to-morrow morning and return in the afternoon, and when I come back I shall bring this reissue with me.” No one said a word, but I knew what was in every man’s mind: “What a fool, when our great Philadelphian authority has spoken, to imagine that he can do anything to change the result!” However, there was no disposition to cut me off by any precipitate action, and the meeting adjourned subject to the call of the chair, every one feeling that it was a mere waste of time.