united for life.

Brunel was a prolific inventor. During his residence in America, he
had planned many contrivances in his mind, which he now proceeded to
work out. The first was a duplicate writing and drawing machine, which
he patented. The next was a machine for twisting cotton thread and
forming it into balls; but omitting to protect it by a patent, he
derived no benefit from the invention, though it shortly came into very
general use. He then invented a machine for trimmings and borders for
muslins, lawns, and cambrics,--of the nature of a sewing machine. His
famous block-machinery formed the subject of his next patent.

It may be explained that the making of the blocks employed in the
rigging of ships for raising and lowering the sails, masts, and yards,
was then a highly important branch of manufacture. Some idea may be
formed of the number used in the Royal Navy alone, from the fact that a
74-gun ship required to be provided with no fewer than 1400 blocks of
various sizes. The sheaved blocks used for the running rigging
consisted of the shell, the sheaves, which revolved within the shell,
and the pins which fastened them together. The fabrication of these
articles, though apparently simple, was in reality attended with much
difficulty. Every part had to be fashioned with great accuracy and
precision to ensure the easy working of the block when put together, as
any hitch in the raising or lowering of the sails might, on certain
emergencies, occasion a serious disaster. Indeed, it became clear that
mere hand-work was not to be relied on in the manufacture of these
articles, and efforts were early made to produce them by means of
machinery of the most perfect kind that could be devised. In 1781, Mr.
Taylor, of Southampton, set up a large establishment on the river
Itchen for their manufacture; and on the expiry of his contract, the
Government determined to establish works of their own in Portsmouth
Dockyard, for the purpose at the same time of securing greater economy,
and of being independent of individual makers in the supply of an
article of such importance in the equipment of ships.

Sir Samuel Bentham, who then filled the office of Inspector-General of
Naval Works, was a highly ingenious person, and had for some years been
applying his mind to the invention of improved machinery for working in
wood. He had succeeded in introducing into the royal dockyards
sawing-machines and planing-machines of a