On the improved Dividing Engine^ 371 



the obscurj anonymous gentleman does me more good than 

 he is aware of. 



Tlie making of dividing engines has hitherto been con- 

 sidered so very diffiuuli an undertaking, tliat but-few have 

 ventured on the labour: and those that have were men of 

 the first abilities as workmen : therefore, if I have made an 

 engine equally correct with the best that has been made, 

 1 conceive that I deserve well of mv country, because I have 

 found out a method by which any ordina-y workman can 

 make a dividing engine equally correct, if not more so than 

 any engine that huherlo has been made, and that with 

 ease. 



I cannot be surprised, much less should I be angry, that 

 a person whose profession is writing, should not understand 

 the value of my invention ; for 1 can find men in the same 

 trade with myself who are equally icnoraut, but among 

 them none of those who have ever attempted to make a di- 

 viding engine. Those who have n'.ade the attempt all ac- 

 knowledge its value in the strongest terms. Among the 

 latter 1 may mention a most competent judo;e, Mr. Stan- 

 clifle, who was foreman to the late Mr. Hamsden at the 

 time that the engine which obtained the reward from the 

 Board of Longitude was made; who of course had the 

 greatest share in the making of it, and who has since made 

 one for himself. This gentleman was with me on Saturday 

 last; and after examining the engine for some length of time, 

 (it is a second time he has now seen it), he said that it is 

 impossible to say any thing against it; that it is a prin- 

 ciple that carries with it self- evidence'; that it is a method 

 that never has been equalled before, nor will it ever be ex- 

 celled, in his opinion; and that it is one of those happy 

 ideas that sometimes takes place in the course of a man's 

 lifetime. 



Mr. Bcrge, who is now in posdession of the engine that 

 the Board of Longitude rewarded, and \\\\o lived (as I un- 

 derstand) with the late Mr. Ramsden from his youth, has 

 also e)<amined my engine a second time, and declared it to 

 be, in his opinion, the greatest step towards perfection that 

 has been communicated to the public within his knowledge. 

 Mr. Troughton, i understand, also considers the principle 

 to be excellent. 



In fact, every one who knows the difficulty of cutting the 



teeth of a dividing engine correctly, allows it all the merit 



that I wish ; and all agree that an engine racked or cut 



in the nianner that I liave done it, that is by shilling the 



A a 2 one 



