CHAPTER VI

Arrival in London. Conditions I found there. Preparations and Start.

Ireached London very early next morning, and drove directly to the lodgings of my friend, Mr. Wellington Lee, the only American resident in London whom I knew. These were on a short street extending from the Strand down to the river, a short distance west of Temple Bar, the ancient city gate, which was then standing. Who was Mr. Lee and what was he doing in London? These were questions in which I had an interest of which I was as yet entirely ignorant. The firm of Lee & Larned were the first successful designers of steam fire-engines in this country. More than seventy of these steamers had been built from their plans and under their direction by the Novelty Iron Works in New York, and the fire department of that city was completely equipped with them. One of their engines had been sold to the city of Havre, and Mr. Lee had gone over with it to test it publicly on its guaranteed performance. Mr. Amos, one of the senior members of the great London engineering firm of Easton, Amos & Sons, went over to Havre to witness this trial, with a view to the manufacture of these steam fire-engines in London. He was so much pleased that he determined to make the fire-engines, and engaged Mr. Lee to take the direction of their manufacture. So it came to pass that at this particular time Mr. Lee was in London superintending the first manufacture of his steam fire-engines by this firm.

After our salutations Mr. Lee said: “First of all I have something to tell you.” Before relating this, I must mention something that I knew before I sailed. About the time when the cargoof United States exhibits started, the well-known Mason and Slidell incident occurred. These gentlemen, commissioners sent by the Confederacy to represent their cause before European governments, had sailed on a British vessel flying the British flag. This vessel was overhauled on the high seas by one of our cruisers, and the commissioners were taken off and brought prisoners to New York. Mr. Lincoln made haste to disavow this illegal proceeding, so singularly inconsistent with our own principles of international law, and to make all the reparation in his power. But a bitter feeling towards England was then growing in the Northern States, and in a moment of resentment Congress hastily passed a resolution repealing the law creating the Exhibition Commission and making an appropriation for its expenses, and Secretary Seward issued a proclamation dissolving the commission. The vessel carrying the exhibits had been gone scarcely more than a day when this action of Congress and Mr. Seward surprised the country.

I now take up Mr. Lee’s narrative. The news of this action, carried by a mail steamer, had reached London several days before the arrival of the exhibits. Under the pressure of an urgent demand the Royal Commission confiscated the space allotted to the United States and parceled it out to British exhibitors. Mr. Holmes on his arrival found not a spot in the Exhibition buildings on which to set his foot. But he was a man of resources. He went before the commission with an eminent Queen’s counsel, who made the point that they had received no official notification of any such action by the United States Government, but had proceeded on a mere newspaper rumor, which they had no right to do; and there was the United States assistant commissioner with his credentials and a shipload of exhibits, and they must admit him.

The commissioners yielded most gracefully. They said: “Now, Mr. Holmes, the American space is gone; we cannot restore that to you, but there are unoccupied spots all over the Exhibition, and you may take up any of these, and we will undertake that your whole exhibit shall be well placed.” Upon this Mr. Holmes had gone to work and had been able to find locations for every exhibit, except my engine.

Wellington Lee

“But only yesterday,” said Mr. Lee, “Mr. Holmes learned that an engine ordered by the commission to drive the British exhibit of looms, of which there were thirty-three exhibitors, had been condemned by the superintendent of machinery, Mr. Daniel Kinnear Clark, and ordered out of the building.” He added that Mr. Holmes went directly to Mr. Clark and applied for the place for my engine, the bedplate of which, thanks to my precipitate action, had arrived and was then on a truck, in England called a lurry, waiting to be unloaded. In answer to Mr. Clark’s questions, Mr. Holmes had given him his personal assurance that I would be there, and the rest of the engine would be there in ample time, and it would be all that he could possibly desire; and on that assurance he had got the place for me.

I informed Mr. Lee that I also had something to tellhim. I then gave him the situation as already related. He looked very grave. When I had finished he said: “Well, you are in a hole, sure enough; but come, let us get some breakfast, and then we will see what Easton & Amos can do for you.” After eating my first English mutton-chop in a chop-house on the Strand, I accompanied Mr. Lee to their works in the Borough, a long distance away, on the south or Surrey side of the Thames, to reach which we crossed the Southwark bridge.

None of the partners had yet reached the office. Very soon Mr. James Easton arrived. He was a young man about my own age. Mr. Lee introduced me and told my story. The instant he finished Mr. Easton came across the room and grasped my hand most cordially. “That’s the kind of pluck I like,” said he; “we will see you through, Mr. Porter; we will build this engine for you, whatever else may have to wait.” Directly he added: “We have a good deal of ‘red tape’ here, but it won’t do in this case. There will be no time to lose. Come with me.” He then took me through the shops and introduced me to every foreman, telling them what he had undertaken to do, and gave each of them the same instruction, as follows: “Mr. Porter will come directly to you with his orders. Whatever he wants done, you are to leave everything else so far as may be necessary, and do his work as rapidly as possible.”

As I listened to these orders, I could hardly believe my sensesor keep back the tears. Coming on top of the devotion of Mr. Holmes they nearly overcame me. The sudden relief from the pressure of anxiety was almost too much. It seemed to me to beat all the fairy stories I had ever heard. This whole-hearted cordiality of the first Englishman I had met gave me a high idea of the people as a whole, which, I am happy to say, a residence of over six years in England served only to increase.

Returning to the office, we found Mr. Lee, who said, “Now, Mr. Porter, I think Mr. Holmes would like to see you.” Getting the necessary directions, in due time I found myself in the Exhibition building on Cromwell Road and in the presence of Mr. Holmes, who received me joyfully and led me at once to Mr. Clark’s office. As he opened the door, Mr. Clark looked up from his desk and exclaimed, “Good morning, Mr. Holmes; where is that engine?” “Well,” replied Mr. Holmes, “here is Mr. Porter, and the engine is here or on the way.” Mr. Clark asked me a number of questions about the engine, and finally how many revolutions per minute it was intended to make. I replied, “One hundred and fifty.” I thought it would take his breath away. With an expression of the greatest amazement he exclaimed: “What! a hundred and fifty! B—b—b—but, Mr.Porter, have you had any experience with such a speed as that?” I told him my experience with the little engine, which did not seem to satisfy him at all. Finally he closed the matter, or supposed he had done so, by saying: “I cannot allow such a speed here; I consider it dangerous.” I decided instantly in my own mind not to throw away all that I had come for; but I made no sign, but humbly asked what speed I might employ. After a little consideration Mr. Clark replied: “One hundred and twenty revolutions; that must not be exceeded.” This he considered a great concession, the usual speed of stationary engines being from fifty to sixty revolutions. I meekly acquiesced, then made my plans for one hundred and fifty revolutions, and said nothing to anybody. I had no idea of the gravity of my offence. It was the first time since I was a child that I had been ordered to do or not to do anything, and I had no conception of orders except as given by myself. If there was any risk, I assumed it gaily, quite unconscious how such a daredevil defiance of authority would appear to an Englishman. Mr. Clark showed me my location, and gave me an order for my engine-bed to be brought in immediately, and also other parts of the engine as soon as they arrived. Trucks generally, I was told, had to wait in the crowd about ten days for their turn to be unloaded.

Charles T. PorterA.D. 1862

I hurry over the time of erection. Everything arrived promptly and the whole came together without a hitch, as I knew it would. The fly-wheel and pulley and cylinder lagging I had left to be made in England. I was at the works of Easton, Amos & Sons every morning at 6 o’clock, and laid out the work for the day. I made the gauges for boring the fly-wheel and pulley, which I had now learned how to do, and adjusted everything about the engine myself, and knew it was right.

I had a talk with the foreman of the pattern-shop about the best thickness of felt on the cylinder to be covered by the mahogany lagging, in the course of which I remarked, “It is the air that is the real non-conductor.” “Yes,” he replied, “and felt, you know,is‘air’.”

I learned several things I did not know before, among others how the English made a steam-pipe joint, using parallel threads and a backing-up nut, packed with long hemp which was filled with a putty made of red and white lead rubbed together dry.

I had great luck in the way of a driving-belt. An American exhibitor of india-rubber belting asked the privilege of exhibiting a belt in use on my engine, which I was glad enough to have him do. Otherwise I hardly know what I should have done. The widest English belts were 12 inches wide, double, and sewn together from end to end with five rows of sheepskin lacing. The belt ran on the knobs of this lacing. English machinists then knew nothing of the hold of belts by excluding the air. The ends of all belts were united by lapping them about two feet and sewing them through and through with this same lacing. Fine pounding these joints would have made on the pulleys. I got a governor belt from him also. Both belts were united by butt-joints laced in the American fashion. I did this job myself, and, indeed, I put the whole engine together mostly with my own hands, although Easton, Amos & Sons sent two of their best fitters to helpme. I learned afterwards that I should have had a sorry time driving my governor by a belt laced in the English way.

In spite of all efforts and all our good luck, we were not ready to start until a week after the opening day, May 1, and the exhibitors were in despair, for none of them believed that this new-fangled American trap would work when it did start at the frightful speed of a hundred and twenty revolutions per minute, which they had learned from Mr. Clark it was to make. Finally one day after our noon dinner I turned on the steam, and the governor rose at the speed of one hundred and fifty revolutions precisely. It was immediately surrounded by a dense crowd, every man of whom looked as if he expected the engine to fly in pieces any instant.

It was not more than two minutes after it started when I saw Mr. Clark coming with his watch in his hand. Some one had rushed to his office and told him the Yankee engine was running away. The crowd opened for him, and he came up to the engine and watched it for some time, walking leisurely around it and observing everything carefully from all points of view. He then counted it through a full minute. At its close he turned to me and exclaimed, “Ah, Porter—but,” slapping me cordially on the shoulder, “it’s all right. If you will run as smoothly as this you may run at any speed you like.”

And so the high-speed engine was born, but neither Mr. Clark, nor I, nor any human being then knew what it was that made it run so smoothly.

I have since realized more and more what a grand man Mr. Clark then showed himself to be. A small souled man might have regarded the matter entirely from a personal point of view, and been furious at my defiance of his authority. There are such men. I will show one to the reader by and by. Officialism is liable to produce them. I was quite unconscious of the risk in this respect that I was running. I have always felt that I could not be too thankful that at this critical point I fell into the hands of so noble a man as Daniel Kinnear Clark.

Mr. Porter’s Exhibit at the London International Exhibition, 1862

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