r was left to bide its time. No forge-master would take it
up. The inventor wrote to all the great firms, urging its superiority
to every other tool for working malleable iron into all kinds of forge
work. Thus he wrote and sent illustrative sketches of his hammer to
Accramans and Morgan of Bristol, to the late Benjamin Hick and Rushton
and Eckersley of Bolton, to Howard and Ravenhill of Rotherhithe, and
other firms; but unhappily bad times for the iron trade had set in; and
although all to whom he communicated his design were much struck with
its simplicity and obvious advantages, the answer usually given
was--"We have not orders enough to keep in work the forge-hammers we
already have, and we do not desire at present to add any new ones,
however improved." At that time no patent had been taken out for the
invention. Mr. Nasmyth had not yet saved money enough to enable him to
do so on his own account; and his partner declined to spend money upon
a tool that no engineer would give the firm an order for. No secret
was made of the invention, and, excepting to its owner, it did not seem
to be worth one farthing.

Such was the unpromising state of affairs, when M. Schneider, of the
Creusot Iron Works in France, called at the Patricroft works together
with his practical mechanic M. Bourdon, for the purpose of ordering
some tools of the firm. Mr. Nasmyth was absent on a journey at the
time, but his partner, Mr. Gaskell, as an act of courtesy to the
strangers, took the opportunity of showing them all that was new and
interesting in regard to mechanism about the works. And among other
things, Mr. Gaskell brought out his partner's sketch or "Scheme book,"
which lay in a drawer in the office, and showed them the design of the
Steam Hammer, which no English firm would adopt. They were much struck
with its simplicity and practical utility; and M. Bourdon took careful
note of its arrangements. Mr. Nasmyth on his return was informed of
the visit of MM. Schneider and Bourdon, but the circumstance of their
having inspected the design of his steam-hammer seems to have been
regarded by his partner as too trivial a matter to be repeated to him;
and he knew nothing of the circumstance until his visit to France in
April, 1840. When passing through the works at Creusot with M.
Bourdon, Mr. Nasmyth saw a crank shaft of unusual size, not only forged
in the piece, but punched. He immediately asked, "How did you forge
that shaft?"