Published Resources Details Journal Article

Author
Gilbert, K. R.
Title
Henry Maudslay 1771-1831
In
Transactions of the Newcomen Society
Imprint
vol. 44, 1971-1972, pp. 49-62
Description

Accession No.1936

Abstract

The chief source of contemporary information on Maudslay is James Nasmyth, who in 1829 at the age of twenty became his personal assistant and remained with him for the last two years of Maudslay's life. Nasmyth's reminiscences are contained in his Autobiography and it was he who provided most of the material on Maudslay used by Smiles who, however, obtained additional information from Maudslay's partner, Joshua Field. Maudslay's work on screw cutting was also described at some length by Charles Holtzapffel in his Turning and Mechanical Manipulation.

Unfortunately Nasmyth, lacking the historical knowledge available today, made claims for Maudslay as the inventor of the slide-rest and screw-cutting lathe, which can no longer be sustained. Maudslay himself made no such claims, as can be seen from the fact that his six patents do not include one on machine tools. Nevertheless later writers have followed Nasmyth. In recent times, however, Maudslay's contributions to workshop technology have been critically re-assessed. To summarise Maudslay's significance in a single phrase, it could be said that his principal achievement was as a pioneer of precision in the construction of machinery.