in Yorkshire. His father rented a farm on the estate of Lord Strafford,
and Joseph, being the eldest of five children was intended for the
same employment; but fortunately for his subsequent career, an
accidental lameness, which occurred when he was sixteen years old,
prevented his following agricultural pursuits. When quite a boy, Bramah
exhibited unusual mechanical talent; he succeeded in constructing two
violoncellos, which were found to be very tolerable instruments, and
also managed to cut a violin out of a single block of wood, by means
of tools which were forged for him by a neighbouring smith, whom in
after life he engaged in London as one of his principal workmen. After
having served an apprenticeship to a carpenter and joiner, Bramah
obtained employment in the workshop of a cabinetmaker in London, and
soon afterwards established himself as a principal in the business. The
history of his life after this is perhaps best given by a record of
his numerous inventions, all of which are, more or less, of a highly
useful character. For the manufacture of these, Bramah first took up
his residence in Denmark Street, Soho, but subsequently removed to
Piccadilly, and established the various branches of his manufactory
in some extensive premises at Pimlico. In 1783 he took out a patent
for an improved watercock, and in the year following, completed the
invention of his famous lock, which for many years stood unrivalled
in ingenuity of construction, workmanship, and powers of resistance
against all attempts to pick.[4] Bramah's indefatigable spirit of
invention was stimulated to fresh efforts by the success of his lock,
and he now entered upon a more important and original line of action
than he had yet ventured upon. In his patent of 1785 he indicated
many inventions, although none of them came into practical use--such
as a Hydrostatical Machine and Boiler, and the application of the
power produced by them to the drawing of carriages and the propelling
of ships, by a paddle-wheel fixed in the stern of the vessel. For
different modifications of pumps and fire-engines, Mr. Bramah took out
three successive patents, the two last being dated in 1790 and 1798.
But in the year 1795 he produced and patented the most important of all
his inventions, namely, 'The Hydraulic Press,' a machine which gives
to a child the strength of a giant, enabling him to bend a bar of iron
as if it were wax. The chief difficulty which Bramah experienced in
constructing this press was that of devising an efficient packing for
the ram or solid piston, which, while capable of keeping out the water
under the tremendous internal pressure exercised by the pump, should,
on the withdrawal of that pressure, allow the ram to sink into its
original place. This was at length accomplished by the invention of the
self-tightening leather-collar, which was firmly secured in a recess at
the top of a cylinder, with the concave side downwards. Consequently,
when the water was pumped into the cylinder, it immediately forced its
way between the bent edges of the collar; and the greater the pressure
of water, the tighter became the hold which the collar took of the
solid piston. It appears from the testimony of Mr. James Nasmyth, that
Bramah was indebted for this simple but beautiful contrivance, to Henry
Maudslay, who was at that time a workman in his shop, and who had
already greatly assisted him in the construction of his lock.
Bramah continued his useful labours as an inventor for many years,
and his studies of the principles of Hydraulics, in the course of
his invention of the press, enabled him to introduce many valuable
improvements in pumping machinery. By varying the form of the piston
and cylinder, he was enabled to obtain a rotary motion, which he
adopted in the well-known fire-engine. In 1797 he took out a patent
for the beer-machine, now in such general use in public houses, and in
the description of this he includes a mode of converting every cask
in a cellar into a force pump, so as to raise the liquor to any part
of the house; a filtering machine; a method of making pipes; a vent
peg, and a new form of stop-cock. Bramah also turned his attention
to the improvement of the steam-engine, but in this, Watt's patent
had left little room for other inventors: and hence Bramah seems to
have entertained a grudge against Watt, which was shown strongly in
the evidence given by him in the case of Boulton and Watt _versus_
Hornblower and Maberly, tried in December 1796. On the expiry, however,
of Boulton and Watt's patent, Bramah introduced several valuable
improvements in the details of the condensing engine, the most
important of which was his "four-way cock," which was so contrived as
to revolve continuously instead of alternately, thus insuring greater
precision with less wear of parts. In this patent, which he secured
in 1801, he also proposed sundry improvements in the boilers, as well
as modifications in various parts of the engine. In the year 1802,
Bramah obtained a patent for a very elaborate and accurate machine for
producing smooth and parallel surfaces on wood and other materials.
This was erected on a large scale at Woolwich Arsenal, and proved
perfectly successful. The specification of the patent includes the
description of a mode of turning spherical surfaces either convex or
concave, by a tool moveable on an axis perpendicular to that of the
lathe, and of cutting out concentric shells, by fixing in a similar
manner a curved tool, nearly of the same form as that employed by
common turners for making bowls. Bramah also invented machinery for
making paper in large sheets, and for printing by means of a roller,
composed of a number of circular plates, each turning on the same
axis, and bearing twenty-six letters capable of being shifted at
pleasure, so as to express any single line by a proper combination of
the plates. This was put in practice to number bank-notes, and enabled
twenty clerks to perform the labour which previously had required one
hundred and twenty. In 1812 he projected a scheme for main-pipes, which
was, however, in many respects, more ingenious than practicable. In
describing this, he mentions having employed a hydrostatic pressure
equal to that of a column of water twenty thousand feet high (about
three and a half tons per square inch). Mr. Bramah made several
improvements in the bearings of wheels, and suggested the use of
pneumatic springs formed by pistons sliding in cylinders, in place
of the usual metal springs for carriages. He likewise improved the
machines for sawing stones and timber, and suggested some alterations
in the construction of bridges and canal locks. He died in his
sixty-sixth year, his last illness having been occasioned by a severe
cold caught during the month of November, while making some experiments
with his hydraulic press on the tearing up of trees in Holt Forest. He
was a cheerful, benevolent, and affectionate man, neat and methodical
in his habits, and knew well how to temper liberality with economy;
greatly to his honour he often kept his workmen employed solely for
their sake, when the stagnation of trade prevented him from disposing
of the products of their labour. As a manufacturer he was distinguished
for his promptitude and probity, and was celebrated for the exquisite
finish which he gave to his productions. At his death he left his
family in affluent circumstances, and his manufacturing establishments
have since his death been continued by his sons. Unfortunately, Mr.
Bramah had an invincible dislike to sitting for his portrait, and
there consequently exists no likeness of this distinguished man; for,
although a cast of his face was taken after death by Sir Francis
Chantry, this, together with many others was destroyed by Lady Chantry
after the death of her husband.--_Memoir by Dr. Brown._--_Stuart's
Anecdotes of the Steam Engine._ London, 1829.--_Smiles's Industrial
Biography._ London, 1863.
ROBERT BROWN, D.C.L., F.R.S., P.L.S., &c.
MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE OF FRANCE.
Born December 21, 1773. Died June 10, 1859.
Robert Brown, whom Humboldt has designated as the "Prince of
Botanists," was the second and only surviving son of the Rev. James
Brown, Episcopalian Minister, of Montrose. Several generations of his
maternal ancestors were, like his father, ministers of the Scottish
Episcopalian Church, and from them he appears to have inherited a
strong attachment to logical and metaphysical studies, the effects
of which are so strikingly manifested in the philosophical character
of his botanical investigations. At an early age he was sent to the
grammar-school of his native town, and in 1787 entered at Marischal
College, Aberdeen, where he immediately obtained a Ramsay Bursary in
philosophy. About two years afterwards, on his father quitting Montrose
to reside in Edinburgh, he was removed to the University of that city,
in which he continued his studies for several years; but without taking
a degree, although destined for the medical profession.
In the year 1791, at the age of seventeen, Brown laid before the
Natural History Society, of which he was a member, his earliest paper,
which contained, together with critical notes and observations, an
enumeration of such plants as had been discovered in North Britain
subsequent to the publication of Lightfoot's "Flora Scotica." Although
this paper was not intended for publication, it brought the young
botanist into communication with Dr. Withering, and laid the foundation
of a warm and intimate friendship between them. In the year 1795, soon
after the embodiment of the Fifeshire Regiment of Fencible Infantry,
Brown obtained in it the double commission of ensign and assistant
surgeon, proceeding with the regiment to the north of Ireland, in
various parts of which he was stationed until the summer of 1798, when
he was detached to England on recruiting service.
Fortunately for himself and for science, this service enabled him
to pass some time in London, where his already established botanical
reputation secured him a cordial reception from Sir Joseph Banks, of
whose library and collections he availed himself to the utmost. In 1799
he returned to his regimental duties in Ireland, from which he was
finally recalled, in December of the following year, by a letter from
Sir Joseph Banks, proposing for his acceptance the post of naturalist
in the expedition for surveying the coasts of New Holland, then fitting
out under the command of Captain Flinders.
In the summer of 1801 he embarked at Portsmouth and set out on this
expedition. His absence from England lasted more than four years,
during which period the southern, eastern, and northern coasts of New
Holland, and the southern part of Van Diemen's Land were thoroughly
explored; and he arrived in Liverpool, in the month of October, 1805,
enriched with a collection of dried plants amounting to nearly 4000
species, a large proportion of which were not only new to science, but
likewise exhibited extraordinary combinations of character and form.
Immediately on his arrival in England, Brown was appointed librarian of
the Linnean Society, of which he had been elected an associate in 1798.
The materials which he had been indefatigable in collecting during
this voyage, and the vast store of facts and observations in relation
to their structure and affinities which he had accumulated, opened
out to him new views upon a multitude of botanical subjects, which he
was enabled by his position in the Linnean Society to enlarge, and to
perfect, and ultimately to lay before the world in a series of masterly
publications, which at once stamped upon him the character of the
greatest and most philosophical botanist that England had ever produced.
In 1810 appeared the first volume of his 'Prodromus Floræ novæ
Hollandiæ et Insulæ Van Diemen.' This important work, together with
his memoirs on Proteaciæ and Asclepiadeæ, which immediately followed,
and his 'General Remarks, Geographical and Systematical, on the Botany
of Terra Australis,' appended to the 'Narrative of Captain Flinder's
Voyage,' published in 1814, by displaying in the most instructive form
the superior advantages of the Natural System, gave new life to that
system, which had hitherto found little favour in France, and speedily
led to its universal adoption. A series of memoirs followed the above
works, chiefly in the Transactions of the Linnean Society, or in the
appendices to various books of travel and survey, which gave fuller and
more complete development to his views upon almost every department
of botanical science, and induced the illustrious Humboldt not only
to confer upon Brown the title mentioned at the beginning of this
memoir, but also to designate him as the "Glory and Ornament of Great
Britain."[5]
At the close of the year 1810, on the death of his learned and
intimate friend Dryander, Mr. Brown succeeded to the office of
Librarian to Sir Joseph Banks, who (on his death in 1820) bequeathed
to him for life the use and enjoyment of his library and collections.
These were subsequently, with Mr. Brown's consent, and in conformity
with the provisions of Sir Joseph's will, transferred, in 1827, to
the British Museum; and from this latter date, until his death, he
continued to fill the office of Keeper of the Botanical Collections in
the National establishment. In 1849 Mr. Brown was elected President
of the Linnean Society, of which, soon after the death of Sir Joseph
Banks, he had resigned the Librarianship, and had become a fellow.
In 1811 he had been made a fellow of the Royal Society; and in 1839
received its highest honour in the Copley medal, awarded to him "for
his discoveries during a series of years on the subject of vegetable
impregnation." In the meantime, honours and titles flowed in upon him
from all quarters. In 1832 the University of Oxford conferred on him,
in conjunction with Dalton, Faraday, and Brewster, the honorary degree
of D.C.L.; and, in the succeeding year, he was elected one of the
eight foreign associates of the Academy of Sciences of the Institute
of France, his name being selected from a list, including those of
nine other savans of world-wide reputation, nearly every one of whom
has since been elected to the same distinguished honour. During the
administration of Sir Robert Peel, he received, in recognition of his
great eminence in botanical science, a pension on the Civil List of
200_l_. per annum, and shortly afterwards the King of Prussia decorated
him with the cross of the highest Prussian Civil Order--'Pour le
Merite.'
Of Mr. Brown's later publications the most important are, his
'Botanical Appendix to Captain Burt's Expedition into Central
Australia,' published in 1849; and his Memoir 'On Triplosporite, an
undescribed Fossil Fruit,' published in the Linnean Transactions for
1851. The pervading and distinguishing character of all these writings,
is to be found in the combination of the minutest accuracy of detail
with the most comprehensive generalization; and no theory is propounded
which does not rest for its foundation on the most circumspect
investigation of all attainable facts. Among the most important
anatomical and physiological subjects of which they treat, particular
mention is due to the discovery of the nucleus of the vegetable cell,
the development of the stamina, together with the mode of fecundation
in Asclepiadeæ and Orchideæ; the development of the pollen and of the
ovulum in Phœnogamous plants, and the bearing of these facts upon the
general subject of impregnation; also the origin and development of
the spores of mosses; and the discovery of the peculiar motions which
take place in the "active molecules" of matter when seen suspended in
a fluid under the microscope. Of structural investigations, the most
important are those which establish the relation of the flower to
the axis from which it is derived, and of the parts of a flower to
each other, as regards both position and number; the analogy between
stamina and pistilla; the neuration of the corolla of compositœ,
their œstivation and inflorescence; and the structure of the stems of
cycadeœ, both recent and fossil.
Mr. Brown was also strongly attached to the study of fossil botany,
and, with a view to its prosecution, he formed an extensive and
valuable collection of fossil woods, which he has bequeathed, under
certain conditions, to the British Museum.
After the death of Sir Joseph Banks, who bequeathed to him his house
in Soho Square, Mr. Brown continued to occupy that portion of it which
opened upon Dean Street; and it was in the library of that illustrious
man, the scene of his labours for sixty years, surrounded by his books
and by his collections, that Robert Brown breathed his last, on the
10th of June, 1859, in the eighty-fifth year of his age.--_Memoir
by John J. Bennett, F.R.S._, read at the Anniversary Meeting of the
Linnean Society, May, 1859.
SIR M. ISAMBARD BRUNEL, V.P.R.S., &c.
Born April 25, 1769. Died December 12, 1849.
This celebrated engineer was born at Haqueville, in Normandy, where his
family had for several centuries held an honourable position, numbering
among its members the eminent French painter Nicholas Poussin.
Brunel was educated at the seminary at Rouen, with the intention of
his entering holy orders, but he displayed so decided a taste for
mathematics and mechanics,[6] that by the advice of the superior of the
establishment he was removed to follow a more congenial career.
His father then destined him for the naval service, which he entered
on the appointment of the Mareschal de Castries, the Minister of
Marine, and made several voyages to the West Indies. While in this
position, although only fifteen years old, his mechanical talents
showed themselves on many occasions, and he surprised his captain by
the production of a sextant of his own manufacture, with which he took
his observations.
In 1792 Brunel returned to France, where he found the revolution
at its height, and, like all who entertained Royalist principles,
was compelled to seek safety by flight, which with difficulty he
effected,[7] taking refuge in the United States of America. Here,
driven by necessity to the exercise of his talents, he followed the
bent of his inclination, and became a civil engineer and architect.
His first engagement in this capacity was on the survey of a tract of
land near Lake Erie; he then became engaged in cutting canals, and was
employed to erect an arsenal and cannon foundry at New York, where he
erected several new and ingenious machines. He was also engaged to
design and superintend the building of the Bowery Theatre, New York,
since destroyed by fire, the roof of which was peculiar and original
in its construction. Brunel now rose high in the estimation of the
citizens of New York; they appointed him their chief engineer, and in
that capacity he organized an establishment for casting and boring
ordnance, which at that time was considered unsurpassed for its novelty
of design and general practicability. Previously to this the idea of
substituting machinery for manual labour in making ships' blocks had
long occupied Brunel's mind, and in 1799, having matured his plans, he
determined upon coming to England, finding that the United States were
unable to afford full occupation for his inventive genius.
In the month of May of the same year Brunel took out his first patent
in England, which was for a duplicate writing and drawing machine. His
next invention was a machine for twisting cotton thread and forming
it into balls; it measured the length of thread which it wound, and
proportioned the size of the ball to its weight and firmness. This
machine was not, however, patented, and it became rapidly and generally
adopted without bringing any advantage to the inventor.
Brunel's next contrivance was a machine for trimmings and borders
for muslins, lawns, and cambrics, somewhat of the nature of a sewing
machine. Shortly after this he patented his famous block-machinery,
which he submitted for the inspection of the Admiralty in 1801.
Earl St. Vincent was at that time at the head of the Admiralty, and
after many delays and difficulties, which were ultimately overcome
chiefly through the influence of Earl Spencer and Sir Samuel Bentham,
Brunel's system was adopted; and he was enabled to erect the beautiful
and effective machinery, which has continued until the present time,
without any alteration or improvement, to produce nearly all the
blocks used in the Royal Navy.[8] The construction of this block
machinery, completed in 1808, was entrusted to the late Mr. Henry
Maudslay, from whom Brunei had already derived considerable assistance
in the execution of his models and working out of his designs. It
was erected in Portsmouth Dockyard, and the economy produced by the
first year's use of these machines was estimated at about 24,000_l._,
two-thirds of which sum was awarded to the ingenious inventor, who was
soon after engaged by the government to erect extensive saw mills,
and carry out other improvements at Chatham and Woolwich. Brunel was
essentially an inventor; besides the above-mentioned machines, he took
out patents for "the manufacture of tin-foil," for "copying presses,"
for "stereotype printing plates," a contrivance for making the small
boxes used by druggists, and a nail-making machine.
He likewise introduced the system of cutting veneers by circular saws
of a large diameter, to which is mainly due the present extensive
application of veneers of wood to ornamental furniture.
A short time before the termination of the war with France he devised
a plan for making shoes by machinery, and under the countenance of the
Duke of York the shoes so manufactured were introduced for the use of
the army, on account of their strength, cheapness, and durability;
but at the peace in 1815, the machines were laid aside, manual labour
having become cheaper, and the demand for military equipments having in
a measure ceased. Steam navigation also attracted Brunel's attention,
and he became deeply interested in establishing the Ramsgate steam
vessels, which were among the first that plied effectively on the
River Thames. About this period, after much labour and perseverance,
he induced the Admiralty to permit the application of steam for towing
vessels to sea, the experiments being made chiefly at his own expense,
a small sum in aid having been promised, but eventually withdrawn
before the completion of the trials, the Admiralty considering the
attempt too chimerical to be seriously entertained.
In the year 1824 Brunel, undeterred by the two previous failures of
Dodd and Trevethick, commenced his great work--the Thames Tunnel. It
is said that the original idea occurred to him as applied to the Neva
at St. Petersburgh, in order to avoid the inconvenience arising from
the floating ice; a plan which he offered to the Emperor Alexander,
on the occasion of his visit to this country in 1814. During the
above-mentioned year a company was formed for the execution of this
work, under the auspices of the Duke of Wellington, who had always
entertained a favourable view as to its practicability; and after
numerous accidents, and frequent suspensions of the works, this great
and novel undertaking was successfully accomplished, and opened to
the public in the year 1843. In the prosecution of this undertaking
Sir Isambard derived great assistance from his son, the late Mr. I. K.
Brunel.
The shield, as it was termed, under shelter of which the excavation
beneath the bed of the river was carried forward, required very
peculiar contrivances to adapt it to its purpose. It was made in
sections or compartments contained in a strong square frame, each
section or compartment being moved forward by screws, as the men
working in them proceeded with the excavation; the entire shield was
thus enabled to be moved forward, and the brickwork, consisting of two
tunnels, was built up to the extent that it had been advanced.
After the completion of the Tunnel, Brunel's health became seriously
impaired from the labours he had undergone in its execution, and he was
unable to mix in active life; he expired on the 12th of December, 1849,
in his eighty-first year, after a long illness.
He received the honour of Knighthood in 1841, and the order of the
Legion of honour in 1829; he was also a corresponding member of
the French Institute, a Fellow of the Royal Society, and a member
of the Institution of Civil Engineers, which he joined in the year
1823.--_Annual Report of the Institution of Civil Engineers._ December
17, 1850.--_Beamish's Life of Brunel._ London, 1862.
EDMUND CARTWRIGHT, D.D., F.R.S., &c.
Born April 24, 1743. Died October 30, 1823.