lived in the comparatively early
days of machine-manufacture can form an adequate idea of the annoyance
occasioned by the want of system in this branch of detail, or duly
appreciate the services rendered by Maudslay to mechanical engineering
by the practical measures which he was among the first to introduce for
its remedy. In his system of screw-cutting machinery, his taps and
dies, and screw-tackle generally, he laid the foundations of all that
has since been done in this essential branch of machine-construction,
in which he was so ably followed up by several of the eminent mechanics
brought up in his school, and more especially by Joseph Clement and
Joseph Whitworth. One of his earliest self-acting screw lathes, moved
by a guide-screw and wheels after the plan followed by the latter
engineer, cut screws of large diameter and of any required pitch. As
an illustration of its completeness and accuracy, we may mention that
by its means a screw five feet in length, and two inches in diameter,
was cut with fifty threads to the inch; the nut to fit on to it being
twelve inches long, and containing six hundred threads. This screw was
principally used for dividing scales for astronomical purposes; and by
its means divisions were produced so minute that they could not be
detected without the aid of a magnifier. The screw, which was sent for
exhibition to the Society of Arts, is still carefully preserved amongst
the specimens of Maudslay's handicraft at the Lambeth Works, and is a
piece of delicate work which every skilled mechanic will thoroughly
appreciate. Yet the tool by which this fine piece of turning was
produced was not an exceptional tool, but was daily employed in the
ordinary work of the manufactory.

Like every good workman who takes pride in his craft, he kept his tools
in first-rate order, clean, and tidily arranged, so that he could lay
his hand upon the thing he wanted at once, without loss of time. They
are still preserved in the state in which he left them, and strikingly
illustrate his love of order, "nattiness," and dexterity. Mr. Nasmyth
says of him that you could see the man's character in whatever work he
turned out; and as the connoisseur in art will exclaim at sight of a
picture, "That is Turner," or "That is Stansfield," detecting the hand
of the master in it, so the experienced mechanician, at sight of one of
his machines or engines, will be equally ready to exclaim, "That is
Maudslay;" for th