t Watt's method of packing the piston was
"monstrous stupidity;" that the engines of Newcomen (since entirely
superseded) were infinitely superior, in all respects, to those of
Watt;--conclusions which, we need scarcely say, have been refuted by
the experience of nearly a century.

On the expiry of Boulton and Watt's patent, Bramah introduced several
valuable improvements in the details of the condensing engine, which
had by that time become an established power,--the most important of
which was his "four-way cock," which he so arranged as to revolve
continuously instead of alternately, thus insuring greater precision
with considerably less wear of parts. In the same patent by which he
secured this invention in 1801, he also proposed sundry improvements in
the boilers, as well as modifications in various parts of the engine,
with the object of effecting greater simplicity and directness of
action.

In his patent of 1802, we find Bramah making another great stride in
mechanical invention, in his tools "for producing straight, smooth, and
parallel surfaces on wood and other materials requiring truth, in a
manner much more expeditious and perfect than can be performed by the
use of axes, saws, planes, and other cutting instruments used by hand
in the ordinary way." The specification describes the object of the
invention to be the saving of manual labour, the reduction in the cost
of production, and the superior character of the work executed. The
tools were fixed on frames driven by machinery, some moving in a rotary
direction round an upright shaft, some with the shaft horizontal like
an ordinary wood-turning lathe, while in others the tools were fixed on
frames sliding in stationary grooves. A wood-planing machine[5] was
constructed on the principle of this invention at Woolwich Arsenal,
where it still continues in efficient use. The axis of the principal
shaft was supported on a piston in a vessel of oil, which considerably
diminished the friction, and it was so contrived as to be accurately
regulated by means of a small forcing-pump. Although the machinery
described in the patent was first applied to working on wood, it was
equally applicable to working on metals; and in his own shops at
Pimlico Bramah employed a machine with revolving cutters to plane
metallic surfaces for his patent locks and other articles. He also
introduced a method of turning spherical surfaces, either convex or
concave, by a tool moveab