CHAP. XV. HIS INTEREST IN MECHANICS' INSTITUTES.

295

services in many forms. But it was perhaps felt, that while these were generally of a local character, it was fitting that the testimonial to Mr. Stephenson, if offered at all, should express in some measure the gratitude of the British nation. No active effort was however made by the committee calculated to evoke any such result. The scheme then dropped, and the Stephenson Testimonial was not resumed for several years.

From an early period Mr. Stephenson manifested a lively interest in the cause of Mechanics' Institutes. He could not but remember the difficulties which he had early encountered in gathering together his own scientific knowledge, the want of books from which he had suffered in his youth, and the miserable character of the instruction then within the reach of the working classes in the smaller towns and villages. A new spirit, however, had arisen on the subject of popular education. The exertions of Bell and Lancaster had led to the establishment of greatly improved agencies for the education of the children of the poor; and earnest efforts were also being made to introduce the adult working classes to the benefits of elementary and scientific instruction by means of Mechanics' Institutes. There were thus few manufacturing towns into which the spirit of Birkbeck and Brougham had not, to some extent, penetrated, exhibiting itself in the establishment of Working Men's Institutions, with their organisation of classes, lectures, and libraries. While residing at Newcastle in 1824, shortly after he had commenced his locomotive foundry in Forth Street, Mr. Stephenson was requested to preside at a public meeting held in that town for the purpose of establishing a Mechanics' Institute. The meeting was held; but George Stephenson was a man comparatively unknown even in Newcastle at that time, and his name failed to summon an "influential" attendance. The local papers scarcely noticed the proceedings; yet the Mechanics' Institute was founded, and struggled into existence. Years passed, and it was now felt to be an honour to secure Mr. Stephenson's presence at any public meetings

296

STIMULUS GIVEN BY RAILWAYS

CHAP. XV. held for the promotion of popular education. Amongst the Mechanics' Institutes in his immediate neighbourhood at Tapton, were those of Belper and Chesterfield; and at their soirées he was a frequent and a welcome visitor. On those occasions he loved to tell them of the difficulties which had early beset him through want of knowledge, and of the means by which he had overcome them—always placing in the first rank perseverance. This was his grand text,-PERSEVERE. There was manhood in the very word. And he would remind them of their unspeakable advantages as mechanics compared with the workmen of his early days. They had books; but he remembered the time" when a good library of books would have been worth worlds to him."

A new stimulus was given to the Mechanics' Institutes of Derbyshire in 1841, by the adoption of visits to each other by railway. The civilising and educating influences of this great machine were thus carried on under Mr. Stephenson's own auspices, and almost at his very door. The Mechanics' Institution of Belper paid a visit, three hundred strong, to that of Chesterfield; and in a few weeks the latter returned the visit with interest. On both occasions Mr. Stephenson was the hero of the day. One after another the speakers acknowledged, that to him, the most distinguished mechanic living, they had been indebted for the improved means of transit which enabled them thus to hold intercourse with each other. Mr. Stephenson was, of course, a speaker on both occasions, and threw out many shrewd remarks and suggestions for the consideration of his friends the young mechanics present. After describing the great difficulties which he had to encounter in connexion with the locomotive, he said, "but that has been little compared with the difficulty I have had in the management of man. I have found the engineering of railways to be light work, compared with the engineering of men." A favourite subject of his observations at those mechanics' meetings was, the properties of the Crank, and the mistakes which mechanics had so often made with

CHAP. XV.

TO MECHANICS' INSTITUTES.

297

respect to it. At Chesterfield he concluded with a piece of sound practical advice:— "As an encouragement to young mechanics, I may state to them, that I commenced my mechanical career with very scanty means; and by close application and study, I have succeeded in establishing a manufactory which sends machinery to almost every kingdom in Europe. I may add, that nothing conduces, in my opinion, so much to the success in life of a thinking mechanic as sobriety, coupled with a steady and persevering application to his employment; never, however, in the midst of all his engagements, forgetting to contribute, by every means in his power, to the comfort of his wife and family." At both Belper and Chesterfield, Mr. Stephenson invited the members, at any time when they thought they had found out any new invention, to bring their discovery to him, and he would always be ready to give them his opinion and assistance. This invitation. got into the newspapers, and the consequence was, that he was very shortly flooded with letters, soliciting his opinion as to inventions which his correspondents thought they had made. He soon found that he had set himself a formidable task, and had roused the speculative and inventive faculties of the working men of nearly all England. He was, however, ready on all occasions to give his advice; and he frequently subscribed sums of money to enable struggling inventors to bring their schemes to a fair trial, when he considered them to be useful and feasible.

Nor did he remain a mere inactive spectator of the improvements in railway working, which increasing experience from day to day suggested. He continued to contrive improvements in the locomotive, and to mature his invention of the carriage-brake. And, strange to say, he had even to defend his favourite locomotive against more recent inventions, such as the atmospheric tube. When examined before the Select Committee on Railways in 1841, his mind seems principally to have been impressed with the necessity which existed for adopting a system of self-acting brakes: stating that, in his opinion, this was

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THE SELF-ACTING BRAKE.

CHAP. XT.

the most important arrangement that could be provided for increasing the safety of railway travelling. "I believe," be said, "that if self-acting brakes were put upon every carriage, scarcely any accident could take place." His plan consisted in employing the momentum of the running train to throw his proposed brakes into action, immediately on the moving power of the engine being checked. He would also have these brakes under the control of the guard, by means of a connecting line running along the whole length of the train, by which they should at once be thrown out of gear when necessary. * At the same time he suggested, as an additional means of safety, that the signals of the line should be self-acting, and worked by the locomotives as they passed along the line. He considered the adoption of this plan of so much importance, that, with a view to the public safety, he would even have it enforced upon railway companies by the legis lature. At the same time he was of opinion that it was the interest of the railway companies themselves to adopt the plan, as it would save great tear and wear of engines, carriages, tenders, and brake-vans, besides greatly diminishing the risk of accidents upon railways.

Whilst before the same Committee, he took the opportunity of stating his views with reference to railway speed, of which wild ideas were then afloat, -one gentleman of celebrity having publicly expressed the opinion that a speed of a hundred miles an hour was practicable in railway travelling! Not many years had passed since Mr. Stephenson had been pronounced insane for stating his conviction that twelve miles an hour could be performed by the locomotive; but now that he had established the fact, and greatly exceeded that speed, he was thought behind the age because he recommended the rate to be limited to forty miles an hour. He said: I do not like either forty or fifty miles an hour upon any line—I think

66

A full deccription, with plans, of Mr. Stephenson's self-acting brake, since revived in a modified form by M. Guérin, is given in the Practical Mechanics' Journal,' vol. i. p. 53.

CHAP. XV.

THE GRADIENT QUESTION.

299

it is an unnecessary speed; and if there is danger upon a railway, it is high velocity that creates it. I should say no railway ought to exceed forty miles an hour under the most favourable gradient; but upon a curved line the speed ought not to exceed twenty-four or twenty-five miles an hour." He had, indeed, constructed for the Great Western Railway an engine capable of running fifty miles an hour with a load, and eighty miles without one. But he never was in favour of a hurricane speed of this sort, believing it could only be accomplished at an unnecessary increase both of danger and expense. On this subject he afterwards observed: "The first time I went to Parliament to give evidence on the locomotive engine, when I stated that I would make that machine travel twelve miles an hour, I was thought to be mad. You will be surprised when I tell you that, during my recent examination before a Committee of the House of Commons on the Management of Railways, I stated, in my opinion, that the speed of the locomotive should not exceed forty miles an hour. 1 have been censured by many for giving that opinion. It is true that I have said the engine might be made to travel 100 miles an hour; but I always put a qualification on this, namely, as to what speed would best suit the public. I assure you I have been buffeted about in Parliament not a little on this question of railway speed."

Another railway innovation that Mr. Stephenson strongly set his face against was the promulgation of the idea that undulating railways of uneven, and even severe gradients, were as favourable for working as flat lines. Some engineers even went so far as to say that they were better adapted for the locomotive. Many years before, Mr. Stephenson had ascertained by experiment at Killingworth, that the engine expends half of its full power in overcoming a rising gradient of 1 in 260; and that when the gradient is so steep as 1 in 100, not less than three-fourths of its propelling power is sacrificed in ascending the acclivity. Hence his invariable practice, throughout his professional career, of securing a road as nearly as possible upon a level, following the course of