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

by Charles T. Porter

On examination it was found that the cast-iron stuffing-box gland on one of the valve-stems had fired, and was fast on the stem. One of our troubles at the Whitworth works was the habit of the workmen, which may have been common to all toolmakers, of making close fits. We had no standard reamers nor any system whatever, and Mr. Watts, finding on his inspection everything too tight to run, had to have holes enlarged and stems reduced by grinding with Turkey dust. Sometimes this had to be done over and over. He was very thorough, but this once he missed it, with the above result. The case looked pretty bad, but luckily nothing was broken, and when the exposition opened at 9 o’clock the next morning every trace of the accident had disappeared and the engine ran as if nothing had happened, and continued to do so for several months, till the close of the exposition. We took pains that night, while we were about it, to make sure against any repetition of that performance.

I had nearly forgotten to mention a little surprise that I had: The day after my arrival a friend who had preceded me a few days said to me, “Come with me; I want to show you something.” He led me through the entire circuit of the machinery hall, and showed me engines with my central counterweight governor brought to that exposition from every country in Europe. I learned afterwards in conversation that, following its exhibition in London, five years before, the use of this governor on the Continent had become quite general.

The day after the opening I asked the superintendent when I ought to expect a visit from the jury of award. I told him it was necessary that I should return to Manchester to bring over my family, and I was anxious not to miss the jury. “I would advise you,” said he, “to go at once. The jury will not be organized for a week or more.” I left that night, leaving the engine in charge of a young Frenchman to run it, and was back in five days. The first thing this man had to tell me was: “The jury were here yesterday. They did not stay but a few minutes. All their remarks that I heard were in French, so I think they must all have been Frenchmen. I heard them say, ‘An engine running at that speed (200 revolutions per minute) will knock itself to pieces before the exposition is over.” This although it was running in absolute silence before their eyes. “They did not ask me any questions.” “What did they say about the condenser?” (The Bourdon gauge showed more than 28 inches vacuum all the time.) “They laughed at that; said no engine ever maintained such a vacuum,” which was quite true. I hurriedly sought out the superintendent. In answer to my complaint he said flippantly, “Oh, that visit was only preliminary. They will be around again in a few days.” I have waited for that visit ever since. Never saw or heard of the jury any more, but when the list of gold medal awards was published my name was not on it.

I learned afterwards that the order to all the juries was to commence their labors the morning after the opening of the exposition, and have their reports in within three weeks. The superintendent must have been officially informed of this order, and he deliberately misled me. I have always wondered if this was his revenge on me for not having run on Sunday as he ordered.

So far as concerns their judgment on the engine, “before the exposition was over” it had won the admiration of every engineer in Europe. Mr. John Hick of Bolton, then the leading builder of stationary engines in England, and afterwards the head of the great engineering firm of Hick, Hargreaves & Co., made a visit to the engine every afternoon during his stay, sometimes watching it for a long time. It had a fascination for him. He told me that no amount of testimony would have made him believe that an engine could have been made to run so smoothly and silently at such a speed, or to maintain such a vacuum. He said that if my engine shown in London had made anything like so favorable an impression on his mind, he would have made me a proposition for its manufacture; but it did not. The reason for this I had learned long before, the reason why it did not impress any one favorably, it was non-condensing. He added that he had since made other arrangements which made such proposition now impossible. I knew what those arrangements were. He had two years before taken up the manufacture of the Corliss engine, under the management of Mr. William Inglis, a Canadian engineer, by whom this engine had been successfully introduced into England. I knew Mr. Inglis well, and rejoiced in his success, as every one who knew him must have done. As for any rivalry between us such a thing was never thought of, there was room for both of us ten times over.

I was very courteously waited upon by a French engineer, who asked me if I were acquainted with the Deluel vacuum-gauge. I told him that I was not. He said that he was happy to introduce it to my notice. The vacuum shown by the Bourdon gauge on my condenser was so remarkable, especially with an air-pump running so swiftly, that it could not be accepted with confidence by engineers, unless actually shown by the mercurial column. The Deluel gauge was the only one in which this was employed. With many apologies for what was indeed the greatest kindness to me, he ventured to suggest that the Deluel gauge be placed on the condenser. He kindly gave me the address of the firm in Paris. A sharp Yankee will probably recognize him as an accomplished drummer for the house. This did not occur to me, but I am under obligation to him all the same.

I lost no time in getting a Deluel gauge, and the same night had the condenser drilled to put it on. To my disgust no tap could be found to fit its thread. So I had to drive a wooden plug in the hole. The next day I called again at their store, nearly three miles from the Champ de Mars, and told them of my predicament. With a profusion of regrets for the inconvenience I had been put to, which he must have known that I would be, the gentleman produced a set of taps, and kindly loaned them to me, observing with evident pride that this was “a thread peculiar to their house.” The Deluel gauge was put on that night, and next morning I had the great satisfaction of seeing that its reading agreed with that of the Bourdon gauge precisely.

I neglected to patent this condenser, so there was nothing to connect me with it, and the next year coming home, where I had no occasion for it, I quite lost sight of it. But at our Centennial Exhibition, nine years after, I saw a large horizontal engine sent from Belgium with the old familiar box behind the cylinder, and about twenty years after that I had the pleasure of having the condenser described to me, as if I were a stranger to it, by Mr. F. M. Wheeler, who mentioned particularly the inclined bottom of the condensing chamber, the feature by which the air was prevented from mingling with the water. He informed me that it was a condenser then commonly used in Europe, and was seen in all illustrations of horizontal condensing engines. I have forgotten whether or not I told him what I knew about the origin of this condenser.

At this exposition only the English had a building devoted to the show of artillery. The principal features that I remember were the Whitworth and the Armstrong systems, which were elaborately represented. I used to say that the British lion here invited the other beasts to examine his teeth.

The French and the English had each a large building on the bank of the Seine devoted to naval exhibits. In the former I happened to be present at a reception held by the young Prince Imperial, at which he received the congratulations of, among others, many prominent Englishmen, some of whom I recognized. How bright, then, seemed his prospects! How sad his end! But how grand for France, her return to a free republic; long may it live!