550 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



SKETCH OF SIR JOSEPH WHITWOETH. 



THE value of Sir Joseph Whitworth's work, and the extent to 

 which it has entered into common life, arc exemplified whenever 

 a screw-tap is fitted to a bolt. A biographical sketch of him, pub- 

 lished on the occasion of his death, designated his name as the greatest 

 of our time in mechanical engineering, and characterized him as a per- 

 son of remarkable individuality and one whose efforts have left a per- 

 manent impress upon the Avorkshops of the whole civilized world. 



Joseph Wiiitwortii was born at Stockport, England, on the 21st of 

 December, 1803, and died at jNlonte Cai-lo, January 22, 1887. He was 

 taught by his father, who was a schoolmaster, and at a school at Idle, 

 near Leeds, till he was fourteen years old, when he was placed with 

 his uncle, a cotton-spinner in Derbyshire. The operations of manufact- 

 uring were not to his taste, but he soon made himself at home with 

 the machinery of the establishment, and in time became its practical 

 managing engineer. After six years of this work he desired to find a 

 wider field for the development of his mechanical abilities, and, al- 

 though the value of his services was appreciated by his uncle, he ran 

 away to Manchester, whore he spent four years in acquiring a practical 

 knowledge of the manufacture of cotton-machinery. Applications of 

 steam-power were still new and crude, and tools adapted to use in con- 

 nection with the new force were imperfect or wanting. In order to 

 qualify himself to supply the need thus indicated, he went to London 

 and sought employment in the best shops — Maudsley's, Iloltzapfel's, 

 and Clement's. Maudsley, recognizing his skill, took him into his own 

 private room, and placed him next to his best workman. He worked 

 in off-hours at his own devices, and in this way completed the true 

 plane, an instrument which conferred the power of making surfaces 

 for all kinds of sliding tools, by which the resistance arising from fric- 

 tion was reduced to its smallest figure, and of which he published a 

 description in 1840. He showed his device and its operation to his 

 fellow-workman, Hampson, who had been accustomed to ridicule his 

 experiments, but now testified his appreciation of the work by saying, 

 "You've done it." At Clement's he worked ujion Babbage's calcu- 

 lating machine, which he always maintained would have operated per- 

 fectly if it had been gone on with ; and here also he learned to make 

 a true screw. 



In 1833 Mr. Whitworth engaged in manufacturing on his own ac- 

 count at Manchester, establishing himself in one room and putting 

 out the sign, "Joseph Whitworth, tool-maker." It was in the infancy 

 of extensive manufacturing, and there were no fixed standards of ad- 

 justment, no guarantees for accuracy of work, or attempt at symmetry 

 or uniformity in any respect, but each maker was a rule to himself. 



