ng machines.

Bramah himself was not backward in admitting that to Henry Maudslay's
practical skill in contriving the machines for manufacturing his locks
on a large scale, the success of his invention was in a great degree
attributable. In further proof of his manual dexterity, it may be
mentioned that he constructed with his own hands the identical padlock
which so severely tested the powers of Mr. Hobbs in 1851. And when it
is considered that the lock had been made for more than half a century,
and did not embody any of the modern improvements, it will perhaps be
regarded not only as creditable to the principles on which it was
constructed, but to the workmanship of its maker, that it should so
long have withstood the various mechanical dexterity to which it was
exposed.

Besides the invention of improved machine-tools for the manufacture of
locks, Maudslay was of further service to Bramah in applying the
expedient to his famous Hydraulic Press, without which it would
probably have remained an impracticable though a highly ingenious
machine. As in other instances of great inventions, the practical
success of the whole is often found to depend upon the action of some
apparently trifling detail. This was especially the case with the
hydraulic press; to which Maudslay added the essential feature of the
self-tightening collar, above described in the memoir of Bramah. Mr.
James Nasmyth is our authority for ascribing this invention to
Maudslay, who was certainly quite competent to have made it; and it is
a matter of fact that Bramah's specification of the press says nothing
of the hollow collar,[1] on which its efficient action mainly depends.
Mr. Nasmyth says--"Maudslay himself told me, or led me to believe, that
it was he who invented the self-tightening collar for the hydraulic
press, without which it would never have been a serviceable machine.
As the self-tightening collar is to the hydraulic press, so is the
steamblast to the locomotive. It is the one thing needful that has
made it effective in practice. If Maudslay was the inventor of the
collar, that one contrivance ought to immortalize him. He used to tell
me of it with great gusto, and I have no reason to doubt the
correctness of his statement." Whoever really struck out the idea of
the collar, displayed the instinct of the true inventor, who invariably
seeks to accomplish his object by the adoption of the simplest possible
means.

During the time th