Chapter XXVI: My Downward Progress (1)

I had now reached the top of my engineering career; I had devoted myself for twenty years to the development of the high-speed engine and to the study of the best means and method of its manufacture, and had introduced into it designs and workmanship of an excellence before unknown in steam-engine construction. I had solved all the theoretical problems involved in the running of high-speed engines, and, starting from Mr. Allen’s inventions of the single eccentric link and the four-opening balanced valve with the adjustable pressure-plate, and my governor, had designed every constructive feature and detail of this engine.

I had been for four years carrying on the business of the manufacture of these engines in my own name as sole proprietor, but, as already stated, without a cent of capital. I had in this time built between forty and fifty engines of every size on my list, from the smallest to the largest, except two, the 44-inch diameter cylinder having been added after my time. Considering my business as an organization, I had been president, secretary, treasurer, general manager, chief engineer, inspector, and draftsman. At any rate, the duties belonging to all those positions had been performed by me with satisfactory results. I made every drawing, both general and detail, with my own hands, having only the help of a young man who made my tracings, and when he had time helped me with my section lining. At that time blue-printing had not come into use; drawings were made on white drawing-paper and were inked in, and the tracings were made for the shop; I began to use the blue-print system when I removed to Philadelphia.

Every one was loyal to me, I could always rely upon my instructions being faithfully followed, so the work ran as smoothly as the engines themselves; we were, however, much hindered by the poor tools we had to use. These were a fair average of American tools at that time, but Mr. Goodfellow and myself estimated their output to average only about one half that which we expected in our contemplated works. Besides this, I could not establish piece-work prices or introduce any systematic methods. I became gradually swamped with orders. These outgrew the capacity of the Hewes & Phillips Works, or of that portion which I could use. Before I left there, besides the four large orders already named, amounting altogether to $48,000 f.o.b., without fly-wheels, and which could not be handled in these works, I had accepted orders for smaller engines sufficient to bring the aggregate up to $125,000. These latter were more than I could manage alone, so I had arranged to have some of these also made, or partially made, in other shops.

From this point my path sloped steeply downward to the grave of all my hopes; in about two years and eight months the business had dwindled to practically nothing, and I, as the party held responsible for this result, was turned out of the Southwark Foundry into the street. At the bottom this was entirely my own fault. No one could ask to be associated with a better body of men than were those who united to sink their money in the manufacture of the Porter-Allen engines.

My aim had been to reach a point where I could command the capital necessary to establish my business according to the plan which I had cherished ever since my return from England, but on a much larger scale than I then contemplated. I had now reached that point. Parties who were finding themselves enriched by my engine were ready to pour out their money like water for my use; but there was something else that I needed even more than their money, without which indeed, as the event proved, their money was of no use at all. That was their respect for me and confidence in me as a strong business man; my record would have sufficiently justified that confidence, but of this they were ignorant. They had no means to form a judgment of me except what I did then and there. I never thought of this supreme requirement, and in response to their request made them an offer which, regarded from their point of view, appeared so unbusinesslike that they could form only one conclusion, that while unquestionably I could make engines all right, in matters of business I was a mere baby whose opinion on business matters was not to be regarded seriously.

How came I to do myself, and them also, as the victims of their mistaken judgment, this injustice? My whole life was bound up in the engine; I cared nothing for money except to develop its manufacture; I felt that every dollar paid to myself would leave so much less for this purpose. I asked nothing for the good-will of my business, for I was not selling it; they were putting money into my business, which, of course, I would continue to carry on as I had done. This was my mistaken view. I consulted fully with Mr. Hope, whose interest was equal with mine, and he viewed the matter precisely as I did. Although standing at the head of his profession as a fire underwriter, he had not the special business training or experience that would enable him to give me the advice I needed, so I told them that if a company should be formed to manufacture the engines with $800,000 capital, I would assign to it my patents for $100,000 of its stock, the value of which I assumed I would increase several fold in a few years. Beyond this I assumed everything and made sure of nothing, so our minds never came together. I did not assert myself because it never occurred to me that I needed to do so.

They could not understand my position. They could not appreciate my sentiment. They were business men, and did business on strictly business principles. What their position was I came to understand later. From the fact that I did not stipulate for it they concluded that I did not expect the presidency of the company, but had yielded it to them, which they accepted, of course, in accordance with the general usage that capital takes the direction of a business which it knows nothing about, relying upon skilled experts in its various departments.

Thus by my failure to realize their necessary position and to lay before them a thoroughly business-like proposition, demanding for myself the practical direction of the business and a proper sum for the patents and the good-will of the business, and assuring to them the safety and disposition of their money the enterprise was doomed from the start.

An excellent opportunity seemed to offer itself for going right on with my business without the delay which would be involved in the erection of new works. The Southwark Foundry was in the market for sale. These were the old engineering works of the firm of S. V. Merrick & Sons; they were famous works before the war, when they were largely devoted to the manufacture of municipal gas and water plants, having, I think, a monopoly of this class of work, for which they were especially equipped. During the war they had built engines for some government vessels. A few years after the war the elder Mr. Merrick died, and his two sons, J. Vaughan and William H. Merrick, retired from business, and these works were closed. In company with several of the gentlemen interested I was shown over the works by William H. Merrick and was very favorably impressed with them. They covered a large plot of ground, the front extending from Fourth to Fifth streets on the south side of Washington Avenue, in Philadelphia; they were favorably located with respect to transportation facilities, a branch of the Philadelphia and Baltimore Railroad ran through this avenue to the Delaware River, and two switches from these tracks entered the works, one going to the foundry and one to the erecting-floor. This floor was commanded by three cranes, operated by power, the largest I had ever seen, while an annex to the foundry was commanded by a steam-crane of equal size, and the main foundry floor was provided with an overhead traveler, the only one at that time in the country. The machine-shop was a large three-story building, the first and second floors of which, as well as the erecting-shop, were filled with tools, some of them of large size. I was particularly impressed by the great planer, the largest in the country, capable of passing objects twelve feet square. The office was provided with a large fire-proof vault which was carried up to the second story for the use of the drawing-office.

I expressed myself decidedly in favor of purchasing these works. I could form no judgment respecting the tools, all their working parts being coated with a composition of white lead and tallow; but I did not care much about them, because I should speedily fill the works with the latest improved tools, most of which I expected to import from England. A contract was immediately made for the purchase of these works, in part payment for which the Merrick brothers were to accept stock in the proposed company. Thus they became numbered among our stockholders.

I was next invited to attend a meeting of a few gentlemen held at the office of the Cambria Company to arrange a slate for the action of the subscribers at a meeting which had been called for organization. This first meeting was full of surprises to me. I went into it expecting the gentlemen to say to me: “Of course, Mr. Porter, you will accept the office of president?” quite unconscious that I had made it impossible for them to think of such a thing, but quite conscious that no amateur in that position could by any possibility make the business successful, unless he should commit the management entirely to my hands and content himself with being a mere figurehead.

Mr. Townsend, the president of the Cambria Company and the leading mover in this enterprise, called the meeting to order and announced that the first question to be settled would be the name of the company. I remarked: “There can be but one name for it: the Porter-Allen Steam-engine Manufacturing Company.” Then Mr. William H. Merrick spoke up: “I don’t know about that; of course, no one can imagine that the manufacture of these engines can employ all the resources of these great works; there is a vast amount of work of the character formerly carried on in them which will naturally flow back to them, and I think the door should be left open for its return.” I expressed my amazement at such a view; I had not come there to revive any old business, but to make the Porter-Allen engine and nothing else; that it must be obvious to any observer that my business only required suitable means for carrying it on to grow to great proportions, and the resources of these works, whatever they were, would need to be greatly enlarged for its use, and besides the name ought to describe and advertise the business. When a vote was taken every man voted for the historic Philadelphia name of the “Southwark Foundry,” to which they added “and Machine Company,” and I discovered that my views had no weight at all. I had afterwards the pleasure of being asked by my friends occasionally what good I supposed that name would do my business.

The next subject was the selection of a president, and my next discovery was that I was not even thought of. If any one had been asked why he had not thought of me he would, from his point of view, very properly have replied that “to commit the interests of this company to a man who had shown so little ability to look out for his own interests did not impress him favorably.” Every vote was cast for William H. Merrick, and I was selected as vice-president, with charge of the manufacturing.

A day or two after, the meeting was held which had been called for the purpose of hearing the report of the patent expert and organizing the company. At this meeting the expert was not prepared to report, as an application for the reissue of an important patent was still pending. Mr. Merrick moved that a temporary organization be then effected, so that we might proceed at once with work on pressing orders. On my assurance that this reissue was certain to be allowed, the motion was adopted and a temporary board of directors was elected. Mr. Merrick and myself were elected president and vice-president respectively. Mr. Merrick told me afterwards that he made the motion because he knew that those twenty-one gentlemen there assembled could never be got together again if this meeting should prove fruitless.

The directors held a meeting immediately after, and at this meeting I presented a letter which I had written to the chairman of the meeting called for organization, setting forth the requirements of the engine for the latest and most improved tools and asking for an immediate appropriation of $100,000 for their purchase, as time was of the utmost consequence. To this Mr. Merrick replied that such action would be entirely unnecessary, saying: “I assure you gentlemen, and I assure Mr. Porter, that for a long time to come he will find in these works everything he can possibly desire.” Of course I could make no reply to this positive statement, and the matter was dropped. We immediately took possession of the works, and a large force of men were put at work cleaning the tools and getting them in working order; I also had my drawings, patterns, and all work in progress brought from Newark and from all shops where it had been commenced. Prominent among these latter were the bed, cylinder and shaft of the first of the 40×48-inch engines which were then ready for finishing.

In about two weeks from the date of this meeting Mr. Goodfellow came into the office pale and trembling with excitement, and addressing himself to me, Mr. Merrick sitting on the opposite side of the table, said: “Mr. Porter, I give it up; we might just as well be set down in a cotton-mill to make steam-engines; there is not a tool in the place that has not spoiled every job that has been put in it, from the day we came here. I don’t believe another such lot of antiquated and worn-out rubbish exists on the face of the earth.” This was not news to me, as I had spent much of my time in the shop. Our most serious disappointment was the condition of their great planer; we had hurried the above-mentioned engine bed on it as soon as it arrived, and when it had been planed the surface plate was laid on the guide-bars, which were 7 feet 6 inches long, and it was found to rock on two diagonal corners more than an eighth of an inch, showing a cross-wind of over half an inch in the whole length of the planer bed; this of course rendered the tool useless in its present condition. I had found that the means for boring the 40-inch cylinder and for finishing the shaft, as well as for doing the other work for this engine, were all equally useless, and I proposed to Mr. Merrick that these parts should all be sent back to the shops from which they had been brought and finished there, and the engine altogether built in outside shops, just as I had built the first one. This he flatly refused to do, saying he would not make such an exposure of our condition. Our plight may be understood when I state that it was over a year before we could deliver that first large engine, although every effort was made to complete it, the castings and forgings waiting for many months.

“But,” exclaims the reader, “why, when this state of affairs was first discovered, were not steps instantly taken to remedy it?” The answer to this question involves a very different subject. When I had received in Newark a letter from Mr. Merrick requesting me to send on my patents for examination by an expert, I was suddenly reminded that I had omitted to obtain the reissue of the latest patent which Mr. Allen had obtained, namely, the one for his adjustable pressure-plate, which had been so shockingly muddled by the Washington agent of the patent solicitors that when we received it we could not understand the specification, and the claims were absolutely meaningless. However, I had said to myself, there will be time enough to have it reissued when it becomes necessary, as applications for reissue are always passed upon immediately. But before sending the patents on, I prepared myself a new and clear specification for that patent and put it in my pocket.

In two or three days I followed the patents to Philadelphia and met the patent solicitor; he told me all the patents seemed to be well enough except this one, and this he could make nothing out of. I told him how that came to be such a muddle, that I always intended to get it reissued and now would employ him to do it. I produced the amended specification I had prepared for that reissue; he read it and handed it back to me, saying it would be of no use to him. I instantly thought of the protest of Mr. Perker: “Really, Mr. Pickwick, really, my dear sir, when one places a matter in the hands of a professional man he must not be interfered with; indeed, he must not, my dear sir, really.” I made an humble apology for my presumption, but asked him if he would get the application in the next day at farthest, that the reissue might be received in time for him to report on it at the meeting called for the organization of the company, then some days distant. He made no reply. I soon found that I had fallen into the hands of a traitor who intended to use his professional power to strangle my enterprise in its birth, and who never did give up his prey until it was torn from his fangs.

Not hearing from him for a day or two, I called to see what was the matter, and was stunned by his telling me that he had determined not to apply for a reissue, but to report against me on the patent as it stood, saying that a reissue could not be got, and if it was it would be good for nothing. I attempted to argue the matter with him, but found him firm. I then went directly to the office of Morgan & Lewis, the attorneys for the company, and told the story. Mr. Morgan said, “I will go and see him at once;” so we went together. The expert repeated his determination to Mr. Morgan, and, anxious that the latter should understand the merits of the case, I presented it to the expert as plainly as I knew how, Mr. Morgan being an attentive listener. Many months afterwards I realized the vital importance of the lesson I then gave to Mr. Morgan. The expert persisted in his determination, but consented to see Mr. Morgan again the next day. On our way back I said to Mr. Morgan: “It seems to me that this man does not see the point of the application because he won’t see it; he doesn’t want to see it.” Mr. Morgan made the rather enigmatical reply: “It seems very plain to me.”

The next day Mr. Morgan made the point to the expert that he could not afford to take such a position as that--he could not sustain it. He then consented to make the application, but added what he had already said to me, that he had no idea it would be granted, and if it was, it would be good for nothing. It will hardly be credited that he was over two months in preparing this application, getting it into a form in which he was sure it could not be allowed. When it was finally shown to me I could not understand it. It contained two references, the pertinence of which I could not see; he assured me, however, that it was the very best that could be done, although he said he had very little hopes that it would be allowed. Sure enough, in a few days the rejection was received from Washington and a meeting was called to hear his report. He used very strong language in making this report, saying: “This rejection is final and the case is hopeless,” and walking over to where I was sitting, he shook a paper in my face with an air as if I had been a detected felon and he held in his hand the proof of my rascality, saying: “This is a paper I received from Washington this morning that settles your hash, sir.” When he sat down the silence might have been felt. Every one shrank from what appeared to them the inevitable and final step, the adoption of a resolution to the effect: “Whereas Mr. Porter has failed to keep his agreement with us, the whole matter be now dismissed from our further consideration.”

I did not allow them much time for reflection, but rose and made a little speech as follows: “Mr. Chairman, I have but a single word to say. I have taken this case out of the expert’s hands; I expect to go to Washington to-morrow morning and return in the afternoon, and when I come back I shall bring this reissue with me.” No one said a word, but I knew what was in every man’s mind: “What a fool, when our great Philadelphian authority has spoken, to imagine that _he_ can do anything to change the result!” However, there was no disposition to cut me off by any precipitate action, and the meeting adjourned subject to the call of the chair, every one feeling that it was a mere waste of time.

The next morning I was received by Mr. Fowler, the accomplished chief examiner in the class of steam-engines, with his usual extreme courtesy. He told me that he felt very sorry at finding himself obliged to reject my application, but the very precedents cited in the application itself left him no alternative. “However,” he added, “if you have anything new to present I shall be most happy to receive it.” In reply I handed to him the specification which had already done duty so ineffectively with the expert and in which I had not changed a syllable. He read it through with fixed attention, and the instant he finished he exclaimed: “Why, Mr. Porter, it is perfectly obvious that you are entitled to this reissue, and the cases cited in the application have nothing to do with it; but why was not this presented to me in the first place?” I told him I had prepared it for that purpose and placed it in the hands of the expert, who, after reading it, returned it to me, saying it would be of no use to him. Mr. Fowler instantly asked me if I had prepared any claims. I told him I had, because I could not get any one to prepare them for me; but it was a new business to me, and I had asked the advice of the expert about them, who, after reading them, returned them to me without any suggestion, merely remarking: “If you get these allowed you will be doing very well.” The moment Mr. Fowler glanced at them he exclaimed: “Oh, Mr. Porter, we cannot allow any such claims as these; they are functional claims, which the Patent Office never allows.” Then, evidently seeing my helpless condition in the hands of a traitor, he instantly added: “I shall be occupied this morning, but if you will call at three o’clock I will have two claims prepared for you which will be allowed.” So the expert had let me go to Washington with claims that he knew could not be allowed, and sure that my errand would be fruitless. But he did not imagine that the examiner would see through his treachery and thwart it. At three o’clock our interview was brief; as I entered Mr. Fowler’s room he handed me a paper, saying: “These have been allowed; you will receive the reissue in the course of three or four days, and it will appear in next week’s _Gazette_. Good afternoon.”

I suppose that I never looked on a countenance expressing more amazement than did that of Mr. Merrick when next morning I handed him the copy of the claims and told him my brief story. He said he could hardly believe his senses. Taking the paper, he started for Mr. Townsend’s office, and in the course of an hour all the parties in interest had been apprised of my easy triumph. The reissue arrived as promised, was placed in the expert’s hands, and a meeting was called to receive his report. I thought my troubles were all over; the case was an absolutely simple one, there was no pretense that the invention was not new, and he _must_ report in its favor, no matter how reluctant he might be to do so. What was my amazement and fury when he quietly stated to the meeting that he had no report to make; that the case involved very serious questions which would require much time for their consideration; that the granting of the patent was nothing--it was the business of the Patent Office to grant patents, not to refuse them, but whether or not they would be sustained by the courts was entirely another matter, about which in this case he had very grave doubts.

I now did what I never did before or since, and what no good business man, who is accustomed to accomplish his purposes, ever allows himself to do: I, who always prided myself on being destitute of such a thing, lost my temper. And not only my temper, but, like Tam O’Shanter, I lost my reason altogether. Already driven frantic by the frightful condition of affairs at the works, which had been protracted over three months by this man’s machinations, and which he threatened to continue indefinitely while he should endeavor to find some means to accomplish his purpose of wrecking my business, without an instant for reflection I shouted, regardless of all proprieties: “You rascal! What was the Patent Office doing a week ago when you reported to these gentlemen that this reissue had been refused, that the decision was final and the case was hopeless; what were they doing then, I would like to know? Were they granting patents or refusing them? The fact is, you are either a traitor or know nothing about your business, and you may hang on either horn of the dilemma you like,” and I sat down, having in these few seconds done myself and my case more harm than anybody else could have done in a lifetime. I did not reflect that I could not have the sympathy of my audience; they knew nothing of the state of affairs at the works--this they had been kept in ignorance of,--nor of the consistent course of treachery which this man had been following. All they could see was that I had used outrageous language, for which they could not imagine any justification, toward an eminent patent lawyer who enjoyed their confidence, and they naturally supposed that was my usual way of doing business. The chairman coldly informed me that the lawyer was their patent adviser and nothing whatever could be done until his report on the reissue should be received. I had entered the room expecting to receive the congratulations of every one on the bold coup by which I had saved my business. I left it unnoticed by any one. The reader will not be much surprised to learn that it was months before we heard from him again--months more of frantic helplessness.

About the first of August I called at the expert’s office and was informed that he had gone on his vacation and would be absent about six weeks, and the case could not be taken up until his return. In my desperation I called upon Mr. Townsend and made to him a clean breast of our helpless condition, and offered to pledge all our stock as security for a loan of the money necessary to buy a few of the most indispensable tools. He replied to me: “Suppose the report of the expert shall be adverse and the enterprise be abandoned, what do you think your security will be worth?”

I succeeded in saving one order from the wreck in rather a singular manner. This was an order from Mr. Lewis, of Cincinnati, the projector of the cottonseed-oil business, for an 18×30-inch engine to drive the machinery of their first oil-mill at Houston, Texas. I had built in Newark an engine of the same size for Senator Jones of Nevada, to drive an ice-making plant which he was establishing in the city of New Orleans. Word came to me sometime that spring that this enterprise had proved a failure, the work had been abandoned, and the engine, their only asset of value, was for sale. I instantly bought it and sent a man down to transport it to Houston and erect it there. Mr. Lewis wrote me from Cincinnati an indignant letter at my sending him a second-hand engine. I replied to him, stating first it was my only possible way of filling his order at all, as I did not know when we should be able to build an engine in our new works, and, second, that it was a new engine, having been run only a few weeks, long enough to show its excellent condition and not so long as engines are often run in public exhibitions, from which they are always sold as new. Mr. Lewis gracefully accepted my explanation, and the engine was in readiness for them to grind the coming cottonseed crop. The next summer we had a call from the agent of that mill, who had come North during their idle interval, while they were waiting for their next crop, to make his report at Cincinnati, and had come out of his way to tell us of the wonderful manner in which that engine had carried them through their first season, which he concluded by saying: “That is the engine for the cottonseed-oil business.” After he had gone I said to Mr. Merrick: “That is an old story to me; everybody says that is the engine for their business, whatever their business may happen to be.”

What did I do with myself during that six months? Well, I was not altogether idle. First I found all the drawers in the drawing-office filled with piles of old drawings which Mr. Merrick ordered to be preserved and which we piled up on the floor of the unoccupied third story. Out of the contemplation of that confused heap I evolved a new system of making and keeping mechanical drawings, which I described in the following paper, read the next year before the American Society of Mechanical Engineers:

“The system of making and keeping drawings now in use at the works of the Southwark Foundry and Machine Company in Philadelphia has been found so satisfactory in its operation that it seems worthy of being communicated to the profession.

“The method in common use is to devote a separate drawer to the drawings of each machine or each group or class of machines. The idea of this system is keeping together all drawings relating to the same subject-matter. Every draftsman is acquainted with its practical working. It is necessary to make the drawing of a machine and of its separate parts on sheets of different sizes. The drawer in which all these are kept must be large enough to accommodate the largest sheets. The smaller ones cannot be located in the drawer, and as these find their way to one side or to the back, and several of the smallest lie side by side in one course, any arrangement of the sheets in the drawer is out of the question.

“The operation of finding a drawing consists in turning the contents of the drawer all up until it is discovered. In this way the smaller sheets get out of sight or doubled up, and the larger ones are torn. No amount of care can prevent confusion.

“In the system now proposed the idea of keeping together drawings relating to the same machine, or of classifying them according to subjects in any way, is abandoned, and in place of it is substituted the plan of keeping together all drawings that are made on sheets of the same size, without regard to the subject of them. Nine sizes of sheets were settled upon as sufficient to meet our requirements, and on a sheet that will trim to one of these sizes every drawing must be made. They are distinguished by the first nine letters of the alphabet. Size A is the antiquarian sheet trimmed, and the smaller sizes will cut from this sheet, without waste, as follows:

“A, 51″×30″; B, 37″×30″; C, 25″×30″; D, 17″×30″; E, 12¹⁄₂″×30″; F, 8¹⁄₂″×30″; G, 17″×15″; H, 8¹⁄₂″×15″; I, 14″×25″.

“The drawers for the different sizes are made 1 inch longer and wider than the sheets they are to contain, and are lettered as above. The drawers of the same size are distinguished by a numeral prefixed to the letter. The back part of each drawer is covered for a width of from 6 to 10 inches, to prevent drawings, and especially tracings, from slipping over at the back.

“The introduction of the blue-printing process has revolutionized the drawing-office. Our drawings now are studies, left in pencil. When we can find nothing more to alter, tracings are made on cloth. These become our originals and are kept in a fire-proof vault. _This system is found admirably adapted to the plan of making a separate drawing for each piece._ The whole combined drawing is not generally traced, but the separate pieces are picked out from it. _All our working drawings are blue-prints of separate pieces._

“Each drawer contains fifty tracings. They are 2¹⁄₂ inches deep, which is enough to hold several times as many, but this number is all that is convenient to keep together. Each drawing is marked in stencil on the margin in the lower right-hand corner, and also with inverted plates in the upper left-hand corner, with the letter of the drawer and the number of the drawing, as, for example, 3F-31; so that whichever way the sheet is put in the drawer, this appears at the front right-hand corner. The drawings in each drawer are numbered separately, fifty being thus the highest number used.

“For reference we depend on our indices. Each tracing when completed is entered under its letter in the numerical index, and is given the next consecutive number. From this index the title and the number are copied into other indices, under as many different headings as possible. Thus all the drawings of any engine, or tool, or machine whatever, become assembled in the index by their titles under the heading of such particular engine or tool or machine. So also the drawings of any particular piece, of all sizes and styles, become assembled by their titles under the name of such piece. However numerous the drawings, and however great the variety of their subjects, the location of any one is, by this means, found as readily as a word in a dictionary. The stencil marks copy, of course, on the blue-prints, and these, when not in use, are kept in the same manner as the tracings, except that only twenty-five are placed in one drawer.

“We employ printed classified lists of the separate pieces constituting every steam-engine, the manufacture of which is the sole business of these works, and on these, against the name of every piece, is given the drawer and number of the drawing on which it is represented. The office copies of these lists afford an additional mode of reference, and a very convenient one, used in practice almost exclusively. The foreman sends for the prints by the stencil marks, and these are thus got directly without reference to any index. They are charged in the same way, and reference to the numerical index gives the title of any missing print.

“We find the different sizes to be used quite unequally. The method of making a separate tracing of each piece, which we carry to a great extent, causes the smaller sizes to multiply quite rapidly. We are also marking our patterns with the stencil of the drawings, as well as gauges, templets, and jigs.

“It is found best to permit the sheets to be put away by one person only, who also writes up the indices, which are kept in the fire-proof vault.

“We have ourselves been surprised at the saving of room which this system has effected. Probably less than one fourth the space is occupied that the same drawings would require if classified according to subjects. The system is completely elastic. Work of the most diverse character might be undertaken every day, and the drawings of each article would find places ready to receive them.”

It will be observed that in planning the sizes of sheets I was limited to antiquarian paper. Now no limitation exists. I should to-day increase the number of sizes.

The whole summer passed, many had taken trips to Europe and back, when about the middle of September Mr. Morgan notified the chairman that he had received the expert’s report and requested him to call a meeting of the subscribers to hear it. I went to the meeting with mingled hope and apprehension. Mr. Morgan read a long letter from the expert containing an elaborate argument against the patent which he concluded by saying that he could not recommend its acceptance. When Mr. Morgan had finished reading the letter he continued: “Mr. Chairman, I am tired of this man’s delays and quibbling, and I now advise you that Mr. Porter has performed his contract, and it only remains for you to perform yours.” This was the harvest from the seed I had sown six months before.

The following is the Reissue on which the patent expert hung up our business for six months. The specification was written by me, the disclaimer and claims were written by Chief Examiner Fowler.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE

JOHN F. ALLEN OF BROOKLYN, ASSIGNOR TO GEORGE T. HOPE, OF BAY RIDGE,
N. Y., AND CHARLES T. PORTER, OF PHILADELPHIA, PA.

_Balanced Valve._

SPECIFICATION forming part of Reissued Letters Patent No. 9303, dated
July 20, 1880.

Original No. 167865, dated September 21, 1875. Application for
reissue filed June 2, 1880.

_To all whom it may concern:_

Be it known that I, JOHN F. ALLEN, formerly of the city, county,
and State of New York, but now of Brooklyn, New York, have invented
certain new and useful Improvements in Balanced Slide Valves, of
which improvements the following is a specification.

My invention relates to that class of balanced slide-valves in which
the valve is practically relieved from the pressure of the steam,
this pressure being sustained by a plate supported above the valve,
but so nearly in contact with it that the space between them will not
admit steam enough to affect the valve. Such plates are designated as
“pressure” plates, and have been made in some instances adjustable,
in order that they may be closed up to the valve as the faces of the
valve and its seat become worn. Heretofore such adjustments have been
affected by different mechanical devices, among which there was, in
one instance, a spring to move the plate laterally or crosswise of
the valve while the pressure of the steam held the plate down; and in
other instances screws were used to move the plate in two directions,
both in line with the movement of the valve, and to hold the plate in
its adjusted position. All of these devices, however, are liable to
objections well understood by engineers.

It is the object of my invention to obviate these objections in
a balanced slide-valve; and to this end my improvements consist
in utilizing the pressure of the steam for giving motion to the
pressure-plate down inclined supports and toward the valve; in
employing supports inclined to the face of the valve at a steep
angle, considerably exceeding the angle of repose of the metal,
so that the pressure of the steam on the upper surface of the
pressure-plate may be relied on for giving to it the above-described
motion, and in employing an adjustable stop to prevent the pressure
of the steam from forcing the pressure-plate into too close contact
with the valve.

In the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification,
Figure 1 is a transverse section through a steam-chest in which my
improved balanced slide-valve is applied, the section being on the
line _x x_ of Fig. 2, and Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section on the
line _y y_ of Fig. 1.

The valve A is fitted upon its seat in the steam-chest B, and moved
to and fro over the ports in the usual manner. The back of the valve
is a plane surface, parallel with its face. Along the sides of the
steam-chest I provide two parallel guides--one, _b_, inclined
downward and outward, and the other, _b¹_, inclined upward and
outward, as shown in Fig. 1, from a point in the same plane with
the back of the valve and at an angle considerably greater than the
angle of repose of the metal. Theoretically, the plate should move
down its inclined supports if the angle of inclination exceeds at
all the angle of repose; but practically, under conditions, often
unfavorable, existing in the steam-chest to render the action
certain, this angle should be largely in excess, as shown in the
model and drawings. In the instance shown I have provided chambers G
at the ends of the steam-chest, through which the steam may pass over
the ends of the pressure-plate to the ports; but any other approved
passage for the steam may be provided.

The pressure-plate C fits snugly in the steam-chest lengthwise, and
moves freely in it crosswise. This plate has an opening in the top
and a hollow center, so that the steam entering at the top passes
through the center and into the chambers G, at the ends of the
steam-chest. The bottom of this plate has a plane surface, parallel
with the back of the valve A, and beyond this plane surface it has
lateral inclines _c c¹_, parallel with the lateral inclines _b b¹_
on the sides of the steam-chest, so that when the plate is in place
its lateral inclines rest upon and fit closely to the inclines on the
chest, thus supporting the plane surface of the bottom of the plate
close to the top of the valve.

The width of the plate being less than that of the chest B, it will
be seen that the plate in this position would have a certain range of
movement upon the inclines crosswise of the steam-chest.

A screw-stop, H, passes through the steam-chest, and bears upon the
adjacent side of the pressure-plate, which will still be free to be
moved crosswise of the valve.

The operation is as follows: The stop H being adjusted to the point
at which it is desired to maintain the pressure-plate, the pressure
of the steam will act upon the plate and tend to force it down the
inclines _b b¹_ crosswise of the valve and against the stop, which
will thus determine the range of movement of the plate and the
relation between its plane surface and the back of the valve. At the
same time the stop, being entirely independent of or disconnected
from the plate, can be readjusted as required to compensate for
any wear upon the surfaces of the valve or its seat, and the steam
will at all times maintain the plate at the point determined by the
adjustment of the stop. This adjustment is, of course, made without
opening the steam-chest.

I do not claim the employment of inclined supports by a movement
along which the pressure-plate is caused to approach or to recede
from the valve, since this device has been already the subject of
patent; but

I claim as my own invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent--

1. A balance-valve provided with a pressure-plate acted upon by
steam-pressure and having a downward and lateral movement through
means of steep inclines, as shown, as and for the purpose set forth.

2. A balance-valve provided with a pressure-plate reposing upon steep
inclines, as shown, and suitable means for limiting its movement upon
the inclines, the said plate being held down by steam-pressure, as
and for the purpose set forth.

JOHN F. ALLEN.

Witnesses:

DE WITT BOGARDUS,
J. W. DURBROW.

Mr. Morgan’s advice was received by the meeting with a feeling of relief from a long suspense; it was at once accepted unanimously, and the temporary organization was made permanent. The directors immediately convened. Before proceeding to the transaction of business one of the directors said to me: “Mr. Porter, you have now been in the Southwark Foundry for six months, and I understand that not a single engine has been sent out from that place in all that time; will you tell us why this is so?” I had then an opportunity of witnessing a nobility of soul such as few persons meet with in the whole course of their lives. Mr. Merrick rose and said: “I will save Mr. Porter the trouble of answering that question. Mr. Porter has not sent a single engine out of these works because he has not had a single tool with which he could make an engine. I thought I knew all about those tools when, last March, I assured you and Mr. Porter he would find everything he could possibly desire, when the fact was I knew nothing about them. I have been through those tools carefully with Mr. Goodfellow and have seen for myself that not one of them could produce work fit to be put in these engines. While I am about it I wish to make another confession: I said then, and you all agreed with me, that it could not be expected that the manufacture of these engines could employ all the resources of that great establishment, and so we left the door open for the return to it of the class of work which had formerly occupied it; but from what I have myself seen in the six months I have been there I am able to say to you that if the works had possessed the resources which I really believed they did possess, these would have been insufficient to meet the demand for these engines which has come to us from all parts of the country and for many different kinds of business. Mr. Porter knew what he wanted and the demand that might reasonably be expected; I had no conception of the one or the other. It is a great pity that we did not then give him the means he asked for, and I hope this will be done now.”

Mr. Henry Lewis spoke up and said: “What did Mr. Porter ask for? I have no recollection of his asking us for anything at all.” None of the directors could remember anything about it; the letter which I had addressed to the chairman had even disappeared. Luckily, however, I had made a copy of it, and I produced the letter-book, in which it was the first letter copied, and read them this copy. I should say here that I have inquired at the works for this letter-book, but have been told by Mr. Brooks, the president, that all correspondence more than twenty years old having no legal value had been destroyed. When I had finished, Mr. Lewis exclaimed: “Did you write that letter?” “I did, sir,” I replied. “Well,” he said, “I suppose I must have heard it, but I have not the faintest recollection of it.” All said the same thing except Mr. Merrick, as it had brought out his reply.

This illustrates the indifference of the directors at that time to anything that came from me. An earnest disposition was now manifested to make all the amends possible; the $100,000 which I had asked for was immediately appropriated. In view of the utter barrenness of the works I was asked if it had not better be made $200,000, but this I did not favor. I told them I would rather proceed more slowly, especially as many of the old tools might be made serviceable when we should have perfect tools with which to refit them. So at last I had triumphed at every point, but at what a cost, O, what a cost!

With a number of other engineers I attended, by invitation, a meeting held at the office of the _American Machinist_, February 16, 1880, which determined upon the organization of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and soon after I had the honor of being invited to read a paper at the first regular meeting of this society, held in the auditorium of the Stevens Institute at Hoboken, N. J., on the 7th of April following. The date of this meeting, it will be observed, fell during the time when the Philadelphia expert was racking his brains to concoct for me an application for a patent reissue which he felt sure could not be allowed.

I read the following paper:

“This association can vindicate its right to exist only by exerting a constant beneficial influence upon engineering practice in all its departments. At the outset of its career it should take a progressive attitude, planting itself upon sound principles of construction, aiming to inspire the engineers of our country with the highest conception of mechanical truth, and to diffuse a correct understanding of the means and methods by which this truth is to be attained.

“As one subject of primary importance, I wish to present that of strength in machine tools. Truth of construction, facility of operation, and range of application are all, in one sense, subordinate to this fundamental quality of strength; for they are in a greater or less degree impaired where adequate strength is not provided.

“But what _is_ adequate strength? On this point there exists among the makers and users of tools a wide diversity of opinion. On examination it will be found that this diversity coincides with the diversity in mechanical sensibility. As the mechanical sense is developed, there arises in just the same degree the demand for greater strength in machine tools.

“To the mechanic who has never formed a notion of a division of an inch more exact than ‘a bare 32d,’ one tool, if it can in any way be kept from chattering, is as good as another, and better if it is cheaper.

“To those, on the other hand, who demand in every piece, as it comes from the tool, the closest approach to perfection, both in form and finish, a degree of strength in the tool appears, and is demonstrated, to be indispensable that to the former class seems as absurd as the results attained by means of it appear incredible.

“In this country, as indeed all over the world, the standard of mechanical truth has been very low. It is here, however, as everywhere, rapidly rising. The multitude are being educated up to the standard of the few. In this work members of this association have borne and now bear an honorable part. Just in the degree that the standard of mechanical excellence is raised must the demand become more general for greater strength in machine tools, as indispensable to its attainment.

“But what is the standard of strength? The anvil affords perhaps its best illustration. It is a strength enormously beyond that which prevents a tendency to chatter, a strength that under even the heaviest labor prevents the least vibration of any part of the tool, or any indication of effort more than if the object being cut were a mass of butter.

“It will be seen that this absolute solidity in machine tools, while truth cannot be attained without it, enables also mechanical operations generally to be performed with far greater expedition, and the subsequent work of the finisher to be in any case much diminished and often dispensed with entirely.

“We are enabled in most cases to come at once to the form desired, whatever may be the quantity of material to be removed, and always to finish the surface with a degree of truth and polish otherwise unattainable, dispensing in a great measure with the use of that abomination, the file.

“Now, with this standard in our minds we look over the face of the land and behold it covered with rubbish.

“It is curious to observe how ingenious toolmakers have generally been in trying to avoid this quality of strength, and how deceptive an appearance in this respect many tools present.