AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 41 



the drum, would require nearly one hundred per cent more to place it in 

 motion. This would have proved fatal to the adoption of the brake, and 

 all the labor and time expended would have been lost. Fortunately, the 

 difficulty was obviated, at the last moment, by cutting the surface of the 

 blocks into small sections of about one and a half inch. 



" It should be understood that the brake w-as a patent, and not an origi- 

 nal one with me ; but the expense and time required to adapt it to the 

 desired purpose, was two-fold more than all the other experiments combined. 

 As before contemplated, I had, in connection with the brake experiments, 

 made comparisons with the two and four sheave machine, and the results 

 were to me conclusive in favor of the former, and I took a frame of a ma- 

 chine placed on board of the Niagara, formerly for hauling in, but never 

 used, and upon this I constructed the first machine, completing the same 

 during the last week of April, and which machine was used on board the 

 Agamemnon, in laying the cable. 



" Immediately after completion, most of the prominent engineers in Lon- 

 don were specially invited to inspect its operation, and to inform the direc- 

 tors of their opinion of its fitness for the required purpose (as per letter 

 below), and the public at large were also admitted. So far as I am 

 informed, not one suggestion was received for its modification at that 

 time." 



Atlantic Telegraph Co., 22 Old Broad St., ) 

 London, I9th April, 1858. } 



Dear Sir — The first set of the completed machiner}' which has been con- 

 structed for paying out the Atlantic Telegraph Cable, will be erected and 

 running at the works of Messrs. Easton and Ames, 28 Gravel Lane, South- 

 wark, on Thursday next, the 22d instant, and I have been instructed by the 

 Directors to ask the favor of your presence in London on that d ly soon 

 after 10 o'clock, A. M., as convenient, for the purpose of examining its 

 capabilities and witnessing its operations, and I am instructed to ask of 

 you the further favor, that after such examination of the same shall have 

 been completed, that you will kindly favor me with a letter, for the infor- 

 mation of the Board, stating whether, in your opinion, it is well adapted 

 to the intended purpose, and also containing any suggestions that may 

 strike you as to any modifications therein that wouhl, in your opinion, ren- 

 der it more perfect. 



Sliould you kindly consent to be present, your expenses will be defrayed 

 by the Company. 



I am, dear sir, yours faithfully, 



GEOEGE SAWARD, Secretary. 



That the instrument designed by Mr. Everett and constructed under 

 his supervision not only differed from that proposed by the (Commission 

 (as given in report B.), but so much so that it elicited the following 

 letter : 



