The canny Nasymth made sure his Bridgewater Foundry had a perfect location near a canal, railway, and road to easily distribute his locomotives, machines, tools, and metal products. Moving on to Manchester, Nasmyth established his own foundry in August 1836. The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum (CC BY-NC-SA) As Nasmyth himself put it, " were always ready for work, and never required a holiday" (ibid, 113). Rather, he was the personification of the spirit of the Industrial Revolution, constantly enquiring how a process could be made more efficient by "reducing labour costs and dependency on unreliable working men" (Waller, 45). Nasmyth loved machines, but he was no idealist trying to create a better world. Maudslay had invented the metal precision lathe amongst other innovations, and he was the man to be associated with for any self-respecting engineer of the period. James gained invaluable practical experience when he worked in the famous engineering workshop of Henry Maudslay (1771-1831) in London. James' father Alexander, known primarily as an artist, was also interested in engineering and even had a forge in the family home. Nasmyth had been tinkering with steam engines for most of his life, including in his childhood in Edinburgh when he built small working models. The fine controls of a steam hammer allowed any number of pieces of metal to be bent in exactly the same way. As the history of metalworking is now fully aware, Nasmyth and his workshop team were up to the challenge. Brunel wrote to his friend Nasmyth, a machine tool specialist already supplying many parts for the Great Britain project, in the hope of finding a solution. At the time, there was no existing forge or machine tool big enough to create such metal pieces for heavy industry. The latter ship's design was innovative since it had a propellor-driven power source, but back in 1839, when still in the planning stage, Brunel was focussing on using only giant paddle wheels, which needed metal drive shafts around 76 cm (30 in) in diameter. Brunel was building giant steamships like the SS Great Western and SS Great Britain, completed in 18, respectively. Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-1859), a key figure in this rapid period of industrialisation, was busy with all kinds of projects, but one of them, in particular, would benefit from the steam hammer. James Nasmyth was encouraged to create his steam hammer because other engineers needed large metal pieces for their own inventions. The Scottish engineer James Nasmyth had the idea that such a power could be used in an industrial hammer to forge and bend large pieces of metal for use in the construction and manufacturing industry, even for new, more efficient steam engines.Īs was often the case during the Industrial Revolution, necessity was the mother of invention. Engineers continued to improve the engine until it worked using a pressure high enough to create a power capable of moving great weights. Next, James Watt (1736-1819) developed Newcomen's design, and by 1778, he had greatly reduced the fuel consumption of the steam engine and increased again its power. In 1712, Thomas Newcomen (1664-1729) adjusted Savery's design to create a self-contained steam engine which was a lot more powerful. 1650-1715) which was designed to clear mine shafts of floodwater. In 1698, a steam-powered pump was invented by Thomas Savery (c. The invention of the steam engine was a process of several steps involving multiple inventors. Nasmyth made a fortune from an invention which became crucial to the larger engineering projects of the Industrial Revolution. Coming in a wide range of dimensions, the steam-powered machine was used to forge and shape very large pieces of metal for industrial use. The steam hammer was developed in 1839 by the Scotsman James Nasmyth (also spelt Naysmyth, 1808-1890).
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