le on an axis perpendicular to that of the
lathe; and of cutting out concentric shells by fixing in a similar
manner a curved tool of nearly the same form as that employed by common
turners for making bowls. "In fact," says Mr. Mallet, "Bramah not only
anticipated, but carried out upon a tolerably large scale in his own
works--for the construction of the patent hydraulic press, the
water-closet, and his locks--a surprisingly large proportion of our
modern tools." [6] His remarkable predilection in favour of the use of
hydraulic arrangements is displayed in his specification of the
surface-planing machinery, which includes a method of running pivots
entirely on a fluid, and raising and depressing them at pleasure by
means of a small forcing-pump and stop-cock,--though we are not aware
that any practical use has ever been made of this part of the invention.

Bramah's inventive genius displayed itself alike in small things as in
great--in a tap wherewith to draw a glass of beer, and in a hydraulic
machine capable of tearing up a tree by the roots. His powers of
contrivance seemed inexhaustible, and were exercised on the most
various subjects. When any difficulty occurred which mechanical
ingenuity was calculated to remove, recourse was usually had to Bramah,
and he was rarely found at a loss for a contrivance to overcome it.
Thus, when applied to by the Bank of England in 1806, to construct a
machine for more accurately and expeditiously printing the numbers and
date lines on Bank notes, he at once proceeded to invent the requisite
model, which he completed in the course of a month. He subsequently
brought it to great perfection the figures in numerical succession
being changed by the action of the machine itself,--and it still
continues in regular use. Its employment in the Bank of England alone
saved the labour of a hundred clerks; but its chief value consisted in
its greater accuracy, the perfect legibility of the figures printed by
it, and the greatly improved check which it afforded.

We next find him occupying himself with inventions connected with the
manufacture of pens and paper. His little pen-making machine for
readily making quill pens long continued in use, until driven out by
the invention of the steel pen; but his patent for making paper by
machinery, though ingenious, like everything he did, does not seem to
have been adopted, the inventions of Fourdrinier and Donkin in this
direction having shortly