The Sully County watchman. (Clifton, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1894, 1888-11-10
THE STEAM HAMMER.
Something About a Powerful Machine
and Its Inventor.
What Boy Did-'iriumphs Achieved
by His Mastery Art

! steam hammer. The lite of James
! Nasmyth was n rornsnoe. His achieve
meuts were noble, his success brilliant
aud his characier WAS so cheerful, suucy,
upright aud happy that il is delight TO
dwell upon 1t.
He himself has told us, in words of
simple, hearty enthusiasm, the story OF
his boyhoud and OF the triumph OF his
manhood. L. is curious that his veiy
name had history in striking contrast
with the actual facts OF mis- life. Doe of
| his ancestors, 1t is said, in trying TO
escape iron, the enenIy on battlefield
assumed the disguisa of blackemith.
He was caught after a sharp race, when
his csptor, perceiving his disguise, ex
claimed, "Why, you are nae smyth" (no
| SMITH; whence came the family name of
| Na.myth. Nov no greater smith ever
lived than this James OF The contrary
name Who made the steam hammer. The
old warlike family motto, too, "Non arte,
sed marte" Not by art, but by war; wes
so entirely contradictory to James Ma.
smiths pursuits that he turned 1t intirely
around, and made il "Non marte, sed
arte" (Not by war, but by art. 1t was
| indeed by his masterful Grt that he
| achieved triumphs more enduring for
| the good of mankind than any war has
| ever been. let US see wha. an unusual kind
of boy James Nasmyth was. He
came of q very practical and mechanical
family. His grandfather was an archi-
| tect of Edinburgh, while his father was not
only very fair artist in colors, but also
| had skill as m architect and as a.
mechanic. James was born and brought
up in the quaint old Scottish capital. His
mother was a shrewd, keen-wit.ed Scotch
woman, who very early in her boys life
preceived that he was Every notioin'
BARN" When James, in his teens, was
at the Edinburg High School, his meohani
cal ingenuity quickly became apparent.
The favorite toy of the Edinburgh boys at
that time were spinning tops and small
cannon. James thought he could make |
better tops and cannon thai they sold at |
the store So he set to work nwith his |
fathers foot-lathe, and soon de tops |
which deiig hted his school 90 rades be.
yond measure. He a,so made his brass
cannon which worked perfectly, and |
even ont of old keys contrived to fashion
a small hand gun. Flying kites and pa
per balloons he easily constructed, and he |
made himself worderously popular al
school by freely supplying his mates with
these means of enjoying their holidays.
He soon conceived great interest in
chemistry. The faths- OF one OF the
rchoolmates had a chemical laboratory a:
Lsith, q mile or SO distance from Ed.u-
burgh, and 10 this laboratory young Nas-
myth was freely admitted. When come
interesting experiment was about to be
made, Tom Smith, Nasmyth's young
friend, would hoist white flag on u pole
in the garden at Leith, VIII areGt Nasmyth
eagerly ran down and took part in the
experiment.. The boys not only had a
hand In the experiments, but taught
themselves how to make each substan st
used in them, Instead OF buy ing the sub
stances in the shopo. This Nasmyth
soon became very skilfui practical
chemist.
At the Ege OF II young Nasmyth began
10 turn his mechanical talents to practi.
cal account. He made little steam EN-
gine for grinding his fathers colors; he
constructed some workshop engines and
the model OF condensing engine TO be
used at mechanics institutes, AID after
attending for four or five years the Edin-
burgh School of Arts, made the modol of
a steam carriage for railway purposes.
For it was Just at tha. time, when
Nssmyth was 10, that the possibility OF
applying steam to land travel was on the
point of being proved. 1t took N.smyth
four months of absorbing labor to com
plete his steam carriage, and when done
it wss run successfully on the Queens
berry road, near Edinburg, carrying eight
passengers, who sat upon low seats only
three feet from tie gronnd. This seems
to Us now n very rude and uncouth way
OF travelling, but when Nasmyth's steam
carriage proved to be success, il was
looked upon as a wonder of wonders.
One of the most important events of
young Nasmyth's life was when he was
admitted TO the famous works of Henry
Naud.ley, in London. Mr.. Maudsley was
an eccentric but kind-hearted man, and
very shrewd in mechanical work, and his I
reputation was world wide. He had long
refused to admit any more pupils in his
works; but he was so struck with the
genius shown in the models which Mas.
myth displayed to him that he not only {
accepted the young Scott as 81 pupil, but /
took him into his own private workshop. &
Here l wish you to work" said Mauds. I
ley, beside me as my assistant" Mas. i
myth rename with this generous patron q
two years, when Maudsley died. /
Nasmyth was now fully equipped for /
his life-work. He took charge OF large /
foundry near Manchester, where he soon G
acquired more than competence. /
He was Cne of those who had the rare i
privilege of witnessing the opening of Y
sho first railway, between Manchester {
and Liverpool, and to see Stephenson's {
Rocket" draw the first train out OF Man 4
chester. The establishment. of railways a
gave abundance of work to Nasmyth, b
who now made locomotives for the new c
which rapidly sprang up. C
But the great achievement of Mas t
myths life was tho invention of that {
powerful steam hammer which still con i
tinues 10 be n marvel 10 all who see its t
operation, at once mighty and delicate. 2
II Is said of this machine that il can chip {
an egg resting on an anvil without break {
ing II, while il can also deliver a twelve i
ton blow which will make whole town. I
ship tremble. We can no. do better than n
quote Nasmyth's own description of this
browning mechanical triumph of his
life:
ut consisted of, first, massive anvil V
on which to rest the work; second, Il b