The  late  C.  E.  Amos,  C.E. 
265 
improvements,  but  also  to  design  fresh  mechanism  for  the 
Hatfield  Paper  Mills  belonging  to  Mr.  Creswick,  whose  engineer 
he  eventually  became. 
In  1834  he  married  the  only  surviving  daughter  of  the  late 
Mr.  James  Chapman,  of  Hatfield.  He  afterwards  undertook  the 
superintendence  and  completion  of  steam-engines  and  other  gear 
for  Mr.  Dives’  corn-mills  at  Battersea.  In  this  work  he  utilised 
the  principle  of  “expansion”  in  working  steam-engines,  which, 
although  already  known,  was  not  much  practically  employed. 
The  engine  appears  to  have  been  a success,  several  of  the  con- 
structive details  being  in  advance  of  the  day.  Among  others 
whose  attention  this  engine  attracted  was  Mr.  James  Easton, 
with  whom  he  eventually,  in  1836,  entered  into  partnership. 
In  1858  the  sons  of  both  principals  entered  the  firm. 
The  foregoing  is  a condensed  epitome  of  Mr.  Amos’s  general 
career  previous  to  his  connection  with  the  Royal  Agricultural 
Society  of  England  in  1848,  when  Messrs.  Easton  and  Amos 
were  appointed  its  Consulting  Engineers,  on  the  understanding 
that  one  of  them  should  personally  attend  the  Society’s  Country 
Shows.  This  duty  devolved  on  Mr.  Amos,  who  commenced  his 
duties  at  the  York  Meeting  in  the  July  of  that  year.  He 
was  subsequently  assisted  in  conducting  the  trials  by  the  sons 
of  Mr.  Easton,  and  by  his  own  son,  James  C.  Amos,  and  upon 
many  occasions  by  his  friend  the  late  Mr.  Appold. 
Up  to  1847,  Mr.  Josiah  Parkes,  C.E.,  had  acted  partly  in 
the  capacity  of  a Judge  of  Machinery  and  partly  as  Consulting 
Engineer.  He  had  during  his  period  of  office  sought  to  en- 
courage any  farm  machinery  which  showed  the  germ  of  future 
usefulness  ; but  so  much  progress  had  been  made  in  agricultural 
machinery  and  implements,  between  the  Oxford  Meeting  in 
1839  and  the  York  Meeting  in  1848,  that  it  became  abso- 
lutely necessary  to  subject  them  to  more  vigorous  tests  than 
had  hitherto  been  applied  to  determine  their  actual  and  relative 
value. 
I he  result  of  Mr.  Amos’s  action  in  this  direction  became 
manifest  at  the  first  Meeting  which  he  attended.  The  Report 
on  the  Show  bore  testimony  to  the  improvements  introduced, 
and,  whilst  suggesting  the  still  further  development  of  them, 
recorded  the  benefits  obtained  by  the  use  of  a machine  for  testing 
the  working  of  steam-engines  and  the  amount  of  draught  of 
threshing-machines,  chaff-cutters,  &c.,  under  the  control  of  Mr. 
Amos,  who  was  thus  early  recognised  as  the  Society’s  “able  and 
zealous  Consulting  Engineer.” 
The  above  was  written,  perhaps,  chiefly  in  reference  to  an 
adaptation  of  what  was  called  the  Prony  Brake,  a Dynamometer 
