March i, 1877J 



NATURE 



371 



existed for five years. From this time he determined no 

 longer to remain the servant of another, but by a bold 

 effort to take an independent position. 



The result of this determination was that he entered 

 into a partnership with an old shopmate of the name of 

 Lillie, and in a miserable shed which they hired for 

 twelve shillings a week they set up a lathe which had to 

 be turned by hand, and thus began a business which but 

 a few years afterwards had a world-wide reputation. 



The first order that came to the new firm was a some- 

 what important one — the taking down and renewal of the 

 whole of the shafting in an extensive cotton-mill belong- 

 ing to Messrs, Adam and George Murray. In carrying 

 out this work, originality of mind and sound reasoning 

 powers which Fairbairn brought to bear upon everything 

 he undertook, came to his aid ; he saw that the old sys- 

 tem of mill- gearing was wrong in principle, that quick 

 shafts and small drums would do the work with a great 

 saving of power and space, and thus he revolution- 

 ised the whole system of mill- work, and the firm of Fair- 

 bairn and Lillie became the leading millwrights of the 

 district. Orders poured in upon them from all sides, and 

 they removed from the shed to a larger building, to which 

 was afterwards added a cellar. 



" I was," Mr. Fairbairn says, " designer, draughtsman, 

 and book-keeper, and in order to meet all the require- 

 ments of the concern and keep Mr. Lillie's department in 

 the shop constantly going, I had to rise with the sun in 

 the summer and some hours before it in winter, in order 

 to make the entries and post the books before breakfast. 

 In the remainder of the day I had either to draw out the 

 work or to ride fifteen or sixteen miles on a hired hack to 

 consult with proprietors, take dimensions, and arrange 

 the principle upon which the work was to be constructed." 



Four or five years passed in this manner, and though 

 the firm was always short of money it was daily increasing 

 in prosperity ; orders came in far beyond what they could 

 execute, they kept adding to their stock of tools, and ulti- 

 mately purchased a second-hand steam-engine by Boulton 

 and Watt, bought a piece of ground, and erected a larger 

 and more convenient workshop. 



In the year 1824 Mr. Fairbairn designed and carried 

 out the great Catrine Bank water-wheels in Ayrshire, in 

 which he introduced so many improvements upon the old 

 system of water power, that his firm for many years stood 

 almost alone for such work, and received orders from all 

 parts of the Continent until the principle which he had 

 introduced became generally known. Thus the business 

 increased, and in the year 1830 their stock-book showed 

 a balance of nearly 40,000/., and left them sufficient funds 

 to increase their works, so as to be capable of employing 

 300 men. During this year William Fairbairn was elected 

 a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers under the 

 presidency of Thomas Telford. 



The following two years were occupied in his celebrated 

 experiments for the investigation of the properties of iron 

 boats and the application of steam power to canal navi- 

 gation, and it was in connection with this investigation 

 that he made his first essay in engineering literature 

 " Remarks on Canal Navigation," which was published 

 by Longmans in 1831. 



These experiments led to the construction by his firm 

 and from his designs, of the Lord Dundas, a small paddle- 

 wheel vessel, built entirely of iron, and driven by a steam- 



engine of o-horse-power. This was the first iron steam- 

 vessel, and the results of its trials were looked for with 

 considerable excitement. Mr. Fairbairn gives a most 

 interesting account of this little vessel and of her sea 

 trip from Liverpool to Glasgow, a voyage not unattended 

 with danger through the error of the compass due to the 

 magnetic influence of the iron, of which the vessel was 

 constructed ; and no greater instance of the clearness of 

 perception of this young engineer can be given than the 

 fact that he not only detected at once the cause of the 

 aberration of the vessel's course, but also corrected the 

 compass error, compensating the ship's attraction by 

 pieces of iron placed in the vicinity of the needle. 



In the year 1832 a dissolution of partnership took 

 place, and the Manchester works came into the sole pos- 

 session of Mr. Fairbairn. Soon after this the subject of 

 iron shipbuilding began to attract public attention, and 

 he had many orders for vessels between 100 and 250 tons 

 burden, which had to be built in Manchester, taken to 

 pieces, and rebuilt at a seaport. To avoid this obvious 

 inconvenience, and believing there was large business to 

 be done in this branch of Engineering, Mr. Fairbairn 

 bought a plot of land on the Thames, at Millwall, where, 

 besides his Manchester business, he carried on for thir- 

 teen years large ship-building operations, having during 

 that time built upwards of a hundred vessels, including 

 several for the Royal Navy ; but, with the exception of 

 the first two years, the concern was a losing one, and it 

 was ultimately wound up and sold at great loss. After 

 passing through several hands it came into the possession 

 of Mr. Scott Russell, and it was on this spot that the 

 Great Eastern was built. 



It was at these works that Fairbairn's celebrated expe- 

 rimental researches, in connection with Mr. Eaton Hodg- 

 kinson, upon the strength of cast-iron were carried on, and 

 it was here that he conducted the experiments previous 

 to the designing of the Britannia and Conway tubular 

 bridges, and which led to his invention of the rectangular 

 self-supporting tube, having cellular top and bottom sides. 

 This is the essential principle of construction in those 

 triumphant feats of engineering skill, and in connection 

 with which his share of the merit is too often passed 

 over. 



This invention, for which a patent was taken out in his 

 name with the concurrence of Mr. Stephenson, led to his 

 being invited by the Chevalier Bunsen, at that time the 

 Prussian Minister, to visit Berlin in order to confer with 

 the authorities upon the erection at Cologne of a tubular 

 bridge for the purpose of carrying the railway across the 

 Rhine. This bridge, as far as he was concerned, was 

 never built, but it led to a warm friendship between him- 

 self and Alexander von Humboldt, as well as with Bun- 

 sen, and the chapter relating to this connection will be of 

 the greatest interest to the readers of this journal, con- 

 taining, as it does, letters of Humboldt and Bunsen, and 

 some very interesting letters of Sir William Fairbairn. 

 Describing, in a letter to Dr. Robinson, of Armagh Ob- 

 servatory, his dining at the table of the King of Prussia 

 where he made the acquaintance of Humboldt, he gives 

 his impression of the great philosopher as follows : — 



" I must, however, inform you that I was seated with 

 feelings of pride and gratification beside a greater man 

 than the King, and enjoyed the benefit of a conversation 



