PATRICK MILLER.
Born in Scotland 1730.
Died at Dalswinton House, near Dumfries, 1815.
Patrick Miller, of Dalswinton, was originally a banker, and ultimately became possessed of considerable independent property. At different periods of his life he embarked in many schemes of great public utility. He made considerable improvements in artillery and naval architecture, and during the course of his various experiments expended upwards of thirty thousand pounds. One of the immediate results of his experiments in the first-named science was the invention of the well-known carronade; while in the course of his experiments in naval architecture, he constructed double and triple vessels, and was the first to practically apply the present form of the paddle-wheels now in ordinary use to their propulsion. Having satisfied himself of the usefulness of his researches in this respect, by many costly experiments undertaken at his own expense, Mr. Miller published at Edinburgh, in 1787, a book in English and French, containing a full account of them, and sent a copy of his work to every sovereign in Europe, and also to the American States, inasmuch as he considered that his inventions ought to be the property of the human kind.[26] The paddle-wheels in these experiments (undertaken in the years 1786-7) were turned by manual labour, and on the occasion of a severe contest between one of his double boats and a Custom-house boat, reckoned to be a fast sailer, the want of a more powerful force to turn the wheels was greatly felt. Mr. James Taylor, at that time a tutor in Mr. Miller's family, suggested steam power, and ultimately introduced Miller to Wm. Symington, with whose aid Mr. Miller commenced and carried out those experiments (in the years 1788-89) which have justly entitled him to the honour of being the first to originate the present system of steam navigation.[27]
It is much to be regretted that since the deaths of Mr. Miller and Mr. Symington, statements have been made in which the entire merit of first establishing steam navigation is claimed, on the one hand, for Miller, by his eldest son, in a paper published in the 'Edinburgh Philosophical Journal' for July 1825; and on the other for Symington, by Richard Bowie, in his pamphlet published in 1833; whereas these two gentlemen appear to be inseparably connected with the first introduction of this grand application of steam. As far as it is possible to reconcile the conflicting statements, the facts may be briefly stated thus. Patrick Miller was the first to successfully propel vessels by paddle-wheels moved by manual labour. He then, in conjunction with William Symington, applied steam to move these paddle-wheels, and constructed two steam-boats, which were publicly tried, on the Forth and Clyde Canal, in the years 1788-89. Although these trials triumphantly proved the practicability of steam navigation, further improvements were required before a really successful steam-boat could be said to have been constructed. At this point, unfortunately, Mr. Miller, having already spent large sums of money in his experiments, let the matter drop; but Symington, about ten years afterwards, under the patronage of Lord Dundas, succeeding in constructing 'The Charlotte Dundas,' a steam-boat which, for the first time, combined together those improvements which constitute the present system of steam navigation. In the narrative written by Patrick Miller, Jun., a good deal of praise, in regard to this matter, is given to James Taylor, before referred to, who is considered by some as having a just claim to participate in the honour awarded to Miller and Symington. Mr. Taylor's merits, however, appear chiefly to consist in having suggested, upon the occasion of a race between one of Miller's boats and a Custom House boat, that they only required the help of a steam-engine to beat their antagonists; also, in having introduced Symington, whose steam-carriage had rendered him famous, to the notice of Mr. Miller; and although Taylor assisted in the subsequent experiments, he seems to have contributed little to their practical success.—Narrative of Facts relative to Invention and Practice of Steam Navigation, &c., by Patrick Miller, Jun., 'Edinburgh Philosophical Journal,' Vol. 13, July 1825.—Narrative by R. Bowie, proving William Symington the Inventor of Steam Land Carriage Locomotion and of Steam Navigation. London, 1833.—Stuart's Anecdotes of the Steam Engine. London, 1829.—Descriptive Catalogue of the Museum of the Commissioners of Patents.
WILLIAM MURDOCK.
Born 1754. Died November 15, 1839.
William Murdock was born at Bellow Mill, near Old Cumnock, Ayrshire, where his father carried on the business of a millwright and miller, and likewise possessed a farm on the estate of the Boswell family of Auchinleck. His mother's maiden name was Bruce, and she used to boast of being lineally descended from Robert Bruce, of Scottish History. Little is known of Murdock's life prior to his coming to England, and joining, in the year 1777, Boulton and Watt's establishment at Soho, at that time in its infancy. He must, however, have had some celebrity in his native country, as he was employed to build a bridge over the river Nith, in Dumfrieshire, a very handsome structure, and still in existence. His talents were soon appreciated at Soho, particularly by James Watt, with whom he continued on terms of the closest friendship until Mr. Watt's death in 1819. After remaining two years at Soho, Murdock was appointed by Messrs. Boulton and Watt to superintend the erection, and undertake the general charge, of their new steam-engines in Cornwall, where he erected the first engine, in that part of the country, with a separate condenser. He continued to live in the district for the space of nineteen years, giving great satisfaction to the mining interest; so much so, that when it became known that he was about to return to Soho, 1000l. a-year was offered him to remain in Cornwall. During his residence there Murdock contrived and executed a model locomotive, which, as early as the year 1784, he was in the habit of showing to his friends in working order, and drawing a small waggon round a room in his house at Redruth. He used to tell a story, that while making experiments with this engine, he one night determined to test its powers on a level road leading from his house to the church, which was situated about a mile distant from the town; this road was bounded on each side by high edges, and well suited for the purpose. Murdock accordingly sallied out, and placing his engine on the ground, lit the fire, or rather lamp, under the boiler; after a few minutes off started the locomotive with the inventor full chase after it; after continuing the pursuit for a short distance, he heard cries as of a person in great distress; the night was too dark to perceive objects afar off, but on going on, he found that the sounds proceeded from the clergyman of the parish, who had set out for the town on business, and being met on this lonely road by the fiery monster, had taken it for the Evil One in person. This model locomotive was exhibited before a meeting of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1850, sixty-six years after the date of its construction.
Mr. Murdock is, however, better known to the public by his application of the light of coal gas to general purposes. Although this gas had been well known, and obtained both naturally and artificially more than half a century before his time, no attempt had as yet been made to turn the discovery to any useful account. In the year 1792 Murdock first employed coal gas for the purpose of lighting his house and offices at Redruth; he made it serve also as a lantern, by attaching a bladder with a tube mouthpiece under the bottom of a glass shade, which contrivance used to light him across the moors when returning home at night from the mining engines he was erecting in different parts of the district. After various experiments which proved the economy and convenience of light so obtained, he perfected his apparatus and made a public exhibition of it by lighting up the front of Boulton and Watt's manufactory at Soho, on the occasion of the general illumination for the peace of Amiens, in 1802. He subsequently lighted up some cotton mills at Manchester, beginning with Messrs. Phillips and Lee's, and published a paper on the subject in the 'Philosophical Transactions' of 1808, for which the Royal Society presented him with the Rumford gold medal.
In 1798 Murdock returned to take up his permanent residence at Soho, superintending the machinery there, and occasionally the erection of engines at a distance, among which may be mentioned those of the New River Head, Lambeth, Chelsea, Southwark, East London, West Middlesex, and other waterworks. In the following year he took out a patent for improvements in boring cylinders and in the manufacture of steam casings; this patent also included the double D slide valve and a rotary engine. Amongst other inventions and discoveries of Murdock's are: a plan for boring stone pipes for water, and cutting columns out of solid blocks of stone (for which he took a patent in 1810); a pneumatic lift working by compressed air; and a cast iron cement, which he was led to discover by the accidental observance of some iron borings and sal-ammoniac, which had got mixed in his tool-chest and rusted a sword blade nearly through. He also made use of compressed air to ring the bells in his house; a plan which so pleased Sir Walter Scott, to whom it had been described, that he had his house at Abbotsford fitted up in a similar manner. Murdock likewise discovered a substitute for isinglass, and when in London for the purpose of explaining to the brewers the nature of his discovery, occupied very handsome apartments. Being, however, at all times absorbed in whatever subject he had in hand, he little respected the splendour of his drawing-room, but proceeded with his experiments as if in the laboratory at Soho, quite unconscious of the mischief he was doing. This resulted in his abrupt dismissal from the apartments by the enraged landlady, who one morning, on calling in to receive orders, was horrified at seeing all her magnificent paper-hangings covered with wet fish skins hung up to dry, and actually caught him in the act of pinning up a cod's skin to undergo the same process.