The finest mechanical drawing I ever saw—or any one else, I think—was shown in this exhibition. It was a drawing of the steamship “Persia,” then the pride of the Cunard fleet, and was the only mechanical drawing ever admitted to the walls of the National Gallery, where it had appeared the year before. It represented side and end elevations and plan, as well as longitudinal and cross-sections, was painted and shaded in water-colors, and involved an almost incredible amount of work. It was made by Mr. Kirkaldy, then a draftsman in the employ of the Napiers, of Glasgow, the builders of the vessel. I am tempted to refer to this, as it forms a prominent datum point from which to measure the development of steam navigation in the brief space of forty years. The vessel did not possess a single feature, large or small, that now exists. It was of only about 3000 tons burden. It was an iron ship built in the days of the rapid transition from wood to steel. It was propelled by paddle-wheels. These were driven by a pair of side-lever engines. The engines had each a single cylinder. The steam pressure carried was nominally 25 pounds above the atmosphere, but practically only from 15 to 20 pounds. Full pressure was not pretended to be maintained. They had jet condensers. All forged work was of iron. The vessel was steered by hand. The rigging, standing as well as running, was of hemp. It was full bark-rigged.
Frederick E. Sickels
There I first met Mr. Frederick E. Sickels, the inventor of the trip cut-off; that immortal man who conceived the idea of tripping the valve mechanism of a steam-engine at any point in its opening movement, thus releasing the valve and permitting it to be suddenly closed. He had come over to exhibit his steam steering gear, which is now used throughout the world. It was astonishing how little attention it attracted. He had it connected and showed it in operation. While he turned the wheel precisely as the steersman did, the steam did all the work of moving the rudder and holding it in any position. Nobody seemed to take the slightest interest in it. I attributed this largely to his mistake in showing a very rough affair, the very thing which he thought would add to its effect. He had an apparatus that had been used on a coasting steamer which was captured by the Confederates and employed by them as a blockade-runner, and afterwards captured by our cruisers, taken into New York and condemned. He bought this gear out of it at auction and sent it to the exhibition just as it was. He believed that the more evidences of neglect and rough usage it showed, the greater admiration its perfect action would inspire. He learned better. Polished iron and brass and mahogany would have led people to believe that he himself thought it was worth showing properly.
The picture gallery in the second story of the main building of this exhibition was really wonderful. Its most prominent feature was a collection of paintings representing the progress of British art from the days of Hogarth. All Europe was represented. I was told that the entire wall surface was seven eighths of a mile long.
We also had a gallery of American art, consisting of a number of remarkable large photographs of the Yosemite Valley, California, and one painting. Mr. J. F. Cropsey, an American landscape artist of considerable celebrity at home, had formed a scheme for establishing himself in London. He took with him a number of his works. His pièce de résistance was “Autumn on the Hudson,” which was greatly admired and for which he was offered a large price, but he preferred to show it in London. He had sent it to the National Gallery, and, to his consternation, it was refused, the committee declaring that there were no such colors in nature. It also offended the English taste, by which our autumnal tints are regarded as “very gaudy,” so he hung it in Mr. Holmes’ office at the exhibition. He and I had each a lot to learn about the way things look to our cousins.
CHAPTER VIII
Sale of Governors. Visit from Mr. Allen. Operation of the Engine Sold to Easton, Amos & Sons. Manufacture of the Indicator. Application on Locomotives.
The governor seemed to please every one. In anticipation of a demand for them, I had shipped a number to London, which met a ready sale. The most appreciative persons as a class were the linen-manufacturers of Belfast. One of them early took a license to sell them there. The first one I sold in London was to my friends Easton, Amos & Sons. As soon as they saw it in operation it struck them as the very thing they needed. In connection with their engineering works they carried on the manufacture of lead pipe by hydraulic pressure. The engine which drove a large section of their machine tools also drove the hydraulic pumps for this manufacture. It was a very trying service. The resistance was very heavy and came on and off the engine instantly. The action of the common governor was not prompt enough to control it, and they had to employ a man handling a disk valve with a very short motion. He had to keep his eye fixed on a column of mercury. When this rose he must open the valve, and when it dropped he must shut it. It had been found that this was a poor reliance for the instantaneous action required. They got a governor from me at once. I received a message from them the next day. The governor would not answer at all; would I come down and see about it? I happened first to meet an old man, foreman of the turners. “What is the matter?” “Matter! The governor won’t work, that’s what’s the matter.” I was rather an impulsive young man and replied, “It will work, or I’ll eat it.” He sharply responded, “If it does work I’ll eat it, and I haven’t a tooth in my head.” Foolish old man! he was more rash than I. I saw at a glance that the governor went through but half its action. There was evidently some resistance in the valve, a common fly-throttle. After they shut down at night I had the valve pulled out, and found that the chamber was larger than the pipe and that the wings of the valve were long and their points caught on the ends of the pipe. The wings of the valve were soon shortened and rebedded in the chamber, and when started again the governor controlled the motion of the engine perfectly, to the great gratification of everybody, and the delight of the boys, who had heard the old man promise to eat it. The valve had been put in for my governor to work, and the fitters had put up a job on me. The old man was not in the secret. So the laugh was on him instead of on me.