With respect to the
foundation of bridges, that ingenious man, Lord Cochrane, patented a
mode of sinking foundations, even before the first meeting of the
British Association, viz., as far back, I believe, as 1825 or 1826;
and the improvements which he then invented are almost universally in
use in bridge construction at the present day. Cylinders sunk by the
aid of compressed air, airlocks to obtain access to the cylinder, and,
in fact, every means that I know of as having been used in the modern
sinking of cylinder foundations, were described by Lord Cochrane
(afterwards Earl of Dundonald) in that specification.
The next subject I propose to touch on is that of
MACHINE TOOLS.
In 1831, the mention of lathes, drilling machines, and screwing
machines brings me very nearly to the end of the list of the machine
tools used by turners and fitters, and at that time many lathes were
without slide rests. The boiler-maker had then his punching-press and
shearing machine; the smith, leaving on one side his forges and their
bellows, had nothing but hand tools, and the limit of these was a huge
hammer, with two handles, requiring two men to work it. In anchor
manufacture, it is true, a mechanical drop-hammer, known as a
Hercules, was employed, while in iron works, the Helve and the Tilt
hammer were in use.
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