Book contents
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE
- Contents
- ILLUSTRATIONS
- CHAPTER I MY ANCESTRY
- CHAPTER II ALEXANDER NASMYTH
- CHAPTER III AN ARTIST'S FAMILY
- CHAPTER IV MY EARLY YEARS
- CHAPTER V MY SCHOOL-DAYS
- CHAPTER VI MECHANICAL BEGINNINGS
- CHAPTER VII HENRY MAUDSLEY, LONDON
- CHAPTER VIII MAUDSLEY'S PRIVATE ASSISTANT
- CHAPTER IX HOLIDAY IN THE MANUFACTURING DISTRICTS
- CHAPTER X BEGIN BUSINESS AT MANCHESTER
- CHAPTER XI BRIDGEWATER FOUNDRY—PARTNERSHIP
- CHAPTER XII FREE TRADE IN ABILITY—THE STRIKE—DEATH OF MY FATHER
- CHAPTER XIII MY MARRIAGE—THE STEAM HAMMER
- CHAPTER XIV TRAVELS IN FRANCE AND ITALY
- CHAPTER XV STEAM HAMMER PILE DRIVER
- CHAPTER XVI NUREMBERG—ST. PETERSBURG—DANNEMORA
- CHAPTER XVII MORE ABOUT BRIDGEWATER FOUNDRY—WOOLWICH ARSENAL
- CHAPTER XVIII ASTRONOMICAL PURSUITS
- CHAPTER XIX MORE ABOUT ASTRONOMY
- CHAPTER XX RETIREMENT FROM BUSINESS
- CHAPTER XXI ACTIVE LEISURE
- CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF INVENTIONS AND CONTRIVANCES
- SUN-RAY ORIGIN OF THE PYRAMIDS, AND CUNEIFORM CHARACTER
- INDEX
- Plate section
CHAPTER VIII - MAUDSLEY'S PRIVATE ASSISTANT
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 November 2010
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE
- Contents
- ILLUSTRATIONS
- CHAPTER I MY ANCESTRY
- CHAPTER II ALEXANDER NASMYTH
- CHAPTER III AN ARTIST'S FAMILY
- CHAPTER IV MY EARLY YEARS
- CHAPTER V MY SCHOOL-DAYS
- CHAPTER VI MECHANICAL BEGINNINGS
- CHAPTER VII HENRY MAUDSLEY, LONDON
- CHAPTER VIII MAUDSLEY'S PRIVATE ASSISTANT
- CHAPTER IX HOLIDAY IN THE MANUFACTURING DISTRICTS
- CHAPTER X BEGIN BUSINESS AT MANCHESTER
- CHAPTER XI BRIDGEWATER FOUNDRY—PARTNERSHIP
- CHAPTER XII FREE TRADE IN ABILITY—THE STRIKE—DEATH OF MY FATHER
- CHAPTER XIII MY MARRIAGE—THE STEAM HAMMER
- CHAPTER XIV TRAVELS IN FRANCE AND ITALY
- CHAPTER XV STEAM HAMMER PILE DRIVER
- CHAPTER XVI NUREMBERG—ST. PETERSBURG—DANNEMORA
- CHAPTER XVII MORE ABOUT BRIDGEWATER FOUNDRY—WOOLWICH ARSENAL
- CHAPTER XVIII ASTRONOMICAL PURSUITS
- CHAPTER XIX MORE ABOUT ASTRONOMY
- CHAPTER XX RETIREMENT FROM BUSINESS
- CHAPTER XXI ACTIVE LEISURE
- CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF INVENTIONS AND CONTRIVANCES
- SUN-RAY ORIGIN OF THE PYRAMIDS, AND CUNEIFORM CHARACTER
- INDEX
- Plate section
Summary
On the morning of Monday, the 30th of May 1829, I commenced my regular attendance at Mr. Maudsley's workshop. My first job was to assist him in making some modifications in the details of a machine which he had contrived some years before for generating original screws. I use the word “generating” as being most appropriate to express the objects and results of one of Mr. Maudsley's most original inventions.
It consisted in the employment of a knife-edged hardened steel instrument, so arranged as to be set at any required angle, and its edge caused to penetrate the surface of a cylindrical bar of soft steel or brass. This bar being revolved under the incisive action of the angularly placed knife-edged instrument, it thus received a continuous spiral groove cut into its surface. It was thus in the condition of a rudimentary screw; the pitch, or interval between the threads, being determined by the greater or less angle of obliquity at which the knife-edged instrument was set with respect to the axis of the cylindrical bars revolving under its incisive action.
The spiral groove, thus generated, was deepened to the required extent by a suitable and pointed hard steel tool firmly held in the jaws of an adjustable slide made for the purpose, as part and parcel of the bed of the machine.
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- James Nasmyth, EngineerAn Autobiography, pp. 139 - 154Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010First published in: 1883