VIII. The great flour mills and biscuit machinery at the Clarence Victualling Yard, Portsmouth, were designed and executed by my brother George and myself. The idea of the bread apparatus was proposed by M. Grout, and worked out by ourselves. The great flour and biscuit mills at Deptford were also designed and executed by my brother and myself.
IX. The Thames Tunnel shield; the rolling machinery of the Bombay, the Calcutta, and the Mexican mints; the machinery at Constantinople for manufacturing small arms; numerous locomotive engines and tenders for different railways, amongst them the ‘Satellite,’ for the Brighton Railway, which was one of the first that travelled at the rate of 60 miles an hour. The engines and machinery for several of Her Majesty’s vessels of war, amongst which may be mentioned the ‘Bull Dog,’ the yacht ‘Elfin,’ and others; four iron vessels, engines, and machinery for the Russian Government for the Caspian Sea, the first that were ever placed there; two yachts for the Emperor Nicholas; the ‘Vladimir’ frigate; two large screw vessels of war for the Baltic; three also for the Black Sea; several for the Danube Company; cranes, sugar mills, diving bells, and machinery; gantry cranes for the mahogany roofs of the West India Docks; spinning and all kinds of machinery, from the year 1821 until the year 1852.
X. The first sea-going screw vessel that was constructed, namely, the ‘Archimedes;’ and also the ‘Dwarf,’ 1839, the first screw vessel of war that was introduced into the navy.
XI. I recommended that the use of the Cornish high-pressure condensing system should be introduced into the steam-vessels of the Royal Navy. At that time they were entirely upon the system of Boulton and Watt, when steam was only employed to the extent of 5 lb. pressure upon every square inch. Now it was well known that the intensity of the power of steam increased in a much greater ratio than the additional quantity of fuel required to raise the temperature, so that high-pressure condensed steam was much more economical than low pressure. There was a good deal of prejudice against it, in consequence of the decided objections of Boulton and Watt, and therefore it was not adopted at the time, but by degrees this prejudice has been overcome, and now steam of 25 to 30 lb. is employed in the Royal Navy, with great advantage and economy.
XII. I may also say that I was the means of introducing oscillating engines into the navy. These I believe were invented by a Mr. Witté, of Hull, but in consequence of the extreme accuracy required in making them, and some degree of prejudice against the vibratory action of the cylinder, this very valuable invention was laid aside. The able and ingenious Mr. Maudslay took it up, but was dissatisfied with it, and abandoned it. Mr. John Penn, who had a small establishment for making machinery at Greenwich, then adopted it, and commenced manufacturing these engines upon a small scale for the steamboats on the Thames. He improved on the idea, acquiring the greatest experience in constructing the engines, and he was convinced that they could be made upon any scale with equally successful results. It happened about this time that the Admiralty required new engines of greater power for their official yacht, the ‘Black Eagle,’ whose speed averaged little more than 8 knots an hour, and they applied to Boulton and Watt, who had made the old engines for the ‘Black Eagle.’ They said they could easily make more powerful engines, but that these would necessarily be heavier, and sink the vessel lower in the water, when the resistance would be so much increased that very little additional speed would be gained, and therefore it would be better to have an entirely new vessel. The Admiralty did not wish to incur the expense, and the matter was likely to fall to the ground. Penn heard of this, and, quite uninvited, sent in a tender to make new engines for the ‘Black Eagle,’ double the power of the old ones, of the same weight, and occupying the same space, for a sum, not, I think, exceeding the cost of engines of the same power on the old method. He further offered, if the Admiralty officers were not satisfied, to take them out, and replace the old engines at his own expense. I happened to be present upon other business with the Comptroller of the Navy, Sir Thomas Byam Martin, when Penn’s tender was sent in, and after reading it he threw it to me, and said, “Rennie, what do you think of that; should I accept it or not?” I read Penn’s tender carefully, and knowing something about the oscillating engine, and having a good opinion of it, I said I thought he should accept it. “Then,” said he, “I will do so, and if it turns out badly you shall have the blame.” “Very well,” I replied, “if it turns out badly I will take the blame.” Penn’s offer was accordingly accepted. The engines were made and fixed on board; all the conditions of the tender were fully complied with, and the Admiralty were perfectly satisfied with their bargain. From that time forward Penn became one of the chief manufacturers of the Admiralty engines, and has continued to be so up to the present time.
The harbours which I made are described in my work on ‘British and Foreign Harbours’; they were a portion of Kingstown, in Dublin Bay; Donaghadee, Port Patrick, Port Rush, Warkworth, Sunderland, East Hartlepool, Whitehaven; nearly rebuilding Ramsgate harbour; Ponta Delgada, in the Azores. I designed harbours for Oporto; the Mattozenhas; Viana, Aveiro, Figuera, and St. Ubes, for the Portuguese Government; also for Douglas, Castleton, Peel, Ramsey, and Laxey, in the Isle of Man, for the local authorities; and Redoubt Kalé, in the Black Sea, for the Russian Government.
XIII. London Bridge; Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, and Staines Bridges, besides finishing those at Crammond and New Galloway, designed by my father.
I laid out and carried through Parliament the Brighton Railway and the Black wall Railway, in 1838; also the Manchester and Liverpool Railway, in conjunction with my brother George, in 1827. In 1838 I designed the Central Kent Railway, which, by passing through the centre of the county, connected all the leading towns on the main line, besides reducing the distance between the metropolis, Dover, and Folkestone to the minimum.
I also projected a line for the Great Northern in the years 1844-45, which was admitted to be the best and shortest line; but it unfortunately failed in consequence of the late Mr. Francis Giles not having completed the parliamentary surveys. I laid down a railway between Leeds and Carlisle, that would have materially shortened the distance between the important manufacturing town of Leeds, Carlisle, Glasgow, and the north of Scotland; a line between Leeds and Bradford, and another between York and Scarborough. Another, called the North Wales Railway, between Bangor and Port Dyllaen, where I designed a capacious harbour and docks, that would have been of the greatest advantage to Liverpool, avoiding the dangerous navigation between that place and Port Dyllaen, and affording an excellent point of departure for Ireland. I also made a design for a new port for Holyhead, upon the principles laid down by my father, that would have answered the purpose far better, and have saved in a great measure the expense that has been incurred by the present ill-contrived harbour, and which has not answered the object intended.