I was still debating with myself what course to take, when I received a note from Mr. W. J. Hoyle, secretary of the Whitworth Company, inquiring if I were free from any entanglement with the affairs of Ormerod, Grierson & Co., to which I was able to make a satisfactory reply. Mr. Hoyle was then a stranger to me. It appeared that he was an accomplished steam engineer, and had been employed as an expert to test one of my engines in operation, an engine which we had made for a mill-owner in Bradford. He had been very favorably impressed by the engine, so much so as to form this scheme. He had been with the Whitworth Company only a short time, and was struck with the small amount of work they were doing in their tool department; and after his observation of the engine at Bradford, learning of the stoppage of Ormerod, Grierson & Co., it occurred to him that it would be a good thing for his company to undertake the manufacture of these engines. After receiving my answer to his preliminary inquiry, having Mr. Whitworth, as he afterwards told me, where he could not get away, on a trip from London to Manchester, he laid the plan before him and talked him into it. I directly after received an invitation to meet Mr. Whitworth at his office, and here commenced what I verily believed was one of the most remarkable experiences that any man ever had.
William J. Hoyle
In the course of our pretty long interview, which terminated with the conclusion of a verbal agreement, Mr. Whitworth talked with me quite freely, and told me several things that surprised me. One was the frank statement that he divided all other toolmakers in the world into two classes, one class who copied him without giving him any credit, and the other class who had the presumption to imagine that they could improve on him. His feelings towards both these classes evidently did not tend to make him happy. Another thing, which I heard without any sign of my amazement, was that he had long entertained the purpose of giving to the world the perfect steam-engine. “That is,” he explained, “an engine embodying all those essential principles to which steam-engine builders must sooner or later come.” This, he stated, had been necessarily postponed while he was engaged in developing his system of artillery, but he was nearing the completion of that work and should then be able to devote himself to it.
I cannot perhaps do better than stop here and give my impressions of Mr. Whitworth. He was in all respects a phenomenal man. As an engineer, or rather a toolmaker, he addressed himself to all fundamental constructive requirements and problems, and comprehended everything in his range and grasp of thought, continually seeking new fields to conquer. Long after the period here referred to he closed his long and wonderful career by giving to the world the hollow engine shaft and the system of hydraulic forging. At that time he was confidently anticipating the adoption by all nations of his system of artillery. He had made an immense advance, from spherical shot, incapable of accurate aim and having a high trajectory, to elongated shot, swiftly rotating in its flight and having a comparatively flat trajectory, and which could hit the mark and penetrate with destructive effect at distances of several miles. These fundamental features of modern artillery thus originated with Mr. Whitworth. All his other features have been superseded, but his elongated pointed rotating projectile will remain until nations shall learn war no more; a time which in the gradual development of humanity cannot be far away. Before I left England, however, he had abandoned his artillery plans in most bitter disappointment. He had met the English official mind. By the authorities of the war and navy departments it had been unanimously decided that what England wanted was, not accuracy of aim and penetration at long range, but smashing effects at close quarters. The record of that is to be found in the proceedings of the House of Commons in 1868, only thirty-nine years ago. Think of that!
Mr. Whitworth was not only the most original engineering genius that ever lived. He was also a monumental egotist. His fundamental idea was always prominent, that he had taught the world not only all that it knew mechanically, but all it ever could know. His fury against tool-builders who improved on his plans was most ludicrous. He drew no distinction between principles and details. He must not be departed from even in a single line. No one in his works dared to think. This disposition had a striking illustration only a short time—less than a year—before I went there. He had no children. His nearest relatives were two nephews, W. W. and J. E. Hulse. The latter was a tool-manufacturer in Salford. W. W. Hulse was Mr. Whitworth’s superintendent, and had been associated with him for twenty-four years, for a long time as his partner, the firm being Joseph Whitworth & Company. Lately the business had been taken over by a corporation formed under the style of the Whitworth Company, and Mr. Hulse became the general superintendent.
Mr. Whitworth was taken sick, and for a while was not expected to live, and no one thought, even if he did get better, that he would ever be able to visit his works again. Mr. Hulse had been chafing under his restraint, and during Mr. Whitworth’s absence proceeded to make a few obvious improvements in their tools, such, for example, as supporting the table of their shaper, so that it would not yield under the cut. To the surprise of every one, Mr. Whitworth got well, and after more than six months’ absence, he appeared again at the works. Walking through, he noted the changes that had been made, sent for Mr. Hulse, discharged him on the spot, and ordered everything restored to its original form.
To return now to my own experience. Since Mr. Whitworth had been absorbed in his artillery development he had given only a cursory oversight to the tool manufacture. Mr. Hulse had been succeeded as superintendent by a man named Widdowson, whose only qualification for his position was entire subserviency to Mr. Whitworth.
Sir Joseph Whitworth