I told him I had thought of a motto for the Social Science Congress, which was just then in session. It was a parody on Nelson’s celebrated order, “England expects every man to do his duty.” My proposed motto was, “England expects every man to know his place.” He did not see the humor, but took me seriously, and thought it excellent.
CHAPTER X
Contract with Ormerod, Grierson & Co. Engine for Evan Leigh, Son & Co. Engine for the Oporto Exhibition. Getting Home from Portugal.
I could do nothing with the engine in England unless it was put on the market as a condensing engine. This fact was finally revealed to me, and I applied myself to meet the requirement. The question as it addressed itself to me was, not “How do you work your air-pump?” but “How are you going to work your air-pump?” My friends Easton, Amos & Sons told me frankly that in their judgment I could not do it at all. Their opinion was expressed very decidedly, that as a condensing engine the high-speed engine was not to be thought of. This was not surprising, seeing that the beam Wolff engines made by them ran at only 25 revolutions per minute, which was the speed of beam-engines generally, and all stationary engines were beam-engines; but it was discouraging. I made up my mind that they did not know everything, and I would show them a thing or two as soon as I got a chance. This I found easier to get than I expected, when I had matured a satisfactory system of condensation. My first plan was to use an independent air-pump running at the usual slow speed and driven by a belt, the speed being reduced by intermediate gearing.
I was able very readily to make an agreement on this basis with the firm of Ormerod, Grierson & Co., of Manchester, for the manufacture of the engines and governors, and we started on our first order on the first day of January, 1864.
The ground occupied by these works bordered on the Duke of Bridgewater’s canal from Liverpool to Manchester, where I one day saw a cow and a woman towing a boat, a man steering.
A railway ran through these works, parallel with the canal, at about 300 feet distance, but it was not at all in the way. It was built on brick arches, and the construction was such that the passing of trains was scarcely heard. The arches were utilized for the millwright shop, pattern shop, gear-cutting shop, and the storage of lumber and gear-wheel patterns, the number and size of which latter astonished me.
On a previous visit Mr. Grierson had shown me several things of much interest. The one most worthy of being related was a multiple drill, capable of drilling ninety holes, ³⁄₄ inch diameter, simultaneously. This had been designed and made by themselves for use in building a lattice-girder bridge, for erection over the river Jumna, near Delhi, to carry a roadway below and a railway above. The English engineers then made all bridge constructions on this system, having no faith in the American truss. One length of this bridge still stood in their yard, where it had been completely riveted up for testing, after which all the rivets would have to be cut out. The other lengths had been shipped in pieces. The advantage of this multiple drill was twofold—the ability to drill many holes simultaneously and the necessary accuracy of their pitch.
I was especially interested in the massiveness of this tool and impressed with the importance of this feature. The drills rotated in place, and the table carrying the work was fed upward by two hydraulic presses. The superintendent told me that they never broke a drill, and that to exhibit its safety in this respect they had successfully drilled a single hole ¹⁄₁₆ of an inch in diameter through one inch of steel. He attributed this success partly to the steady feed, but chiefly to absolute freedom from vibration. He said a toolmaker had had an order for a similar drill, and on visiting this one pronounced its great weight to be absurd. He made one weighing about half as much, which proved a failure, from the liability of the drills to break. This gave me one of the most valuable lessons that I ever received.