164 report — 18G5. 



MECHANICAL SCIENCE. 



Address by Sir "W. Armstrong, K.O.B., F.R.S., President of the Section. 

 Gentlemen, — The Mechanical Section of the British Association is fortunate this 

 year in having the Annual Meeting held at Birmingham. In no other town in the 

 kingdom are mechanical and manufacturing processes carried on in greater variety, 

 and the Members of this Section cannot fail to derive both pleasure and profit from 

 the opportunity thus afforded them of witnessing these manifold branches of in- 

 dustry, and of discussing amongst themselves the various objects brought before 

 them. Let it also be recollected that we are here on ground rendered classic by 

 the labours of Watt. It was here that he reduced to practice those splendid me- 

 chanical conceptions which have contributed more than anything else to the 

 marvellous progress of the last half century. Every relic of the great mechanician 

 which may here be presented, will excite reverential feelings in our minds, and we 

 shall be especially interested in the collection of his original models, which I under- 

 stand are to be submitted to our inspection at the conversazione this evening in 

 the Town Hall. 



The papers to be read to the Section embrace, as might be expected, matters of 

 great interest and importance, and will, I trust, give rise to much instructive dis- 

 cussion. Nothing can be more surprising than the recent rapid and still accele- 

 rating progress of mechanical science, and assuredly this progress is in no small 

 measure attributable to the facilities afforded by such occasions as the present for 

 a more easy and general interchange of experience and ideas. Amongst the papers 

 to be read I notice one by Mr. Robinson, of Manchester, on the subject of that 

 interesting and most curious apparatus, "Gifford's Injector;" and I anticipate that 

 Mr. Robinson's experience will enable him to throw additional light upon this 

 paradoxical machine. Should any obscurity remain, it will, I hope, be cleared up 

 by the observations which this paper will call forth. 



The subject of hewing coal by machinery will be brought before the Section by 

 Mr. Levick. I refer to this subject with much satisfaction, not only on account of 

 its importance, but also as being a successful step in mechanical science accom- 

 plished during the year which has elapsed since the last Meeting of the British 

 Association. It may be a matter of regret with some persons that the application 

 of machinery to this and other similar purposes will operate to deprive labourers 

 of their employment ; but it must be admitted that whatever tends to economise 

 human labour in the dark and dangerous recesses of a coal mine, must be a benefit 

 to the community ; moreover, all experience has shown that although labour may 

 be diverted in its channels by the introduction of machinery, the aggregate amount 

 of employment suffers no diminution, but, on the contrary, seems to increase. 



I regret that we are not also to have a paper on the progress which has been 

 made in puddling by machinery, and I trust that when another year has passed 

 away, the President of this Section will have occasion to notice the attainment of 

 complete success in that desirable object. 



The paper from Mr. Bessemer upon steel cannot fail to be highly valued by the 

 Section. The growing importance of this material, and its rapidly extending 

 sphere of usefulness, have attracted attention in a special degree to the question of 

 economy in its production ; and certainly no one has contributed so largely as Mr. 

 Bessemer to our advance in this direction. 



The various papers which are to be read on deep-sea telegraphic cables will prove 

 peculiarly acceptable at the present moment, when our interest is so much engaged 

 in the grand attempt to establish telegraphic communication between England and 

 America. Never was there an undertaking which presented such formidable risks 

 and difficulties at the outset ; never were more discouraging failures experienced, 

 and never were failures encountered with more indomitable courage and perseve- 

 rance. Such enterprise as this reflects credit, not only upon the individual pro- 

 of e rs of the undertaking, but also upon the nation itself. 



The paper promised by Mr. Cox upon Mr. Siemens's regenerative furnace will 

 bring forward a subject the importance of which can in my opinion scarcely be 

 over estimated. Few people are aware of the prodigious waste of heat which takes 

 place in all furnaces where it is requisite to communicate a high temperature to 



