THE LIFE OF ERICSSON.* IN this biography of the great
Swedish engineer, Colonel Church has produced a book full of attractive reading. Ericsson was a man of extraordinary mechanical genius, boundless resource, and unfailing energy, and was un- doubtedly, through his wonderful ability, a tremendous factor in the material progress of the last fifty years. He is chiefly known as the successful designer of the first " Monitor," which did so much to restore the fortunes of the Federal States, and marked an epoch in naval construction. His application of diiect-acting engines to the screw-propeller has in no less degree revolutionised marine engineering, and has driven paddle- wheel steamers from the ocean. Yet these were but two among hundreds of inventions which his fertile brain pro- duced ; many of them were brilliant successes, and even his mistakes would have attracted attention in lesser men.
Ericsson was born in 1803, in Vermland, a central district of Sweden, "a region of legend, song, and romance ;" but his father, being unfortunate in the mining operations in which he was engaged in that locality, obtained an appointment on the Gota Canal, then in coarse of construction. Here John and his elder brother Nils were from their earliest years in close contact with engineers and their works, and their father wisely did all be could to encourage their naturally keen taste for mechanical occupations. This early training influenced their lives ; Nils became an eminent engineer in his own country, whilst John obtained a world-wide reputation. The fertility of resource which marked him through life appeared almost in his infancy. In order to indulge his pas- sion for mechanical drawing, the ingenious child constructed his own compasses, ruling-pen, and sable brushes, and at the age of eight, made his first drawing to scale. A year later, he himself says that he had " an excellent knowledge of drawing instruments, and was well skilled in their use." When twelve years old, he was commissioned to make drawings for the archives of the Canal Company ; and before he was fourteen, he superintended the labours of six hundred Swedish troops on the canal, though still too small to look through his level- ling instrument without standing on a stool which his attendant carried. Thus almost from his cradle was Ericsson identified with engineering works of the first magnitude, and he applied himself with his whole energy to study and understand them. At the age of seventeen, fired with military ardour, he joined the Army as ensign in the Jetutland Field Chasseurs, and soon became known as an athlete and a good rifle shot, as well as a very expert artillery draughtsman. The knowledge he acquired in handling big guns was of the greatest service to him in after-life, and the interest he then gained in naval and military subjects was never lost, and was, says Colonel Church, " in part the secret of his later successes in a field wherein he was supposed to be a novice." His drawings were shown to the King, who advised him to go abroad, as Sweden could not reward his abilities as they deserved. So leave of absence was obtained, and in 1826 he left his beloved native land, never to return. He came to England, where, having in some way overstayed his leave and become technically a deserter, " through the intervention of his friend the Crown Prince, he was honourably restored to the service by the issue to him on October 3rd, 1827, of a commission as Captain in the Swedish Army." Colonel Church adds that he resigned this commission on the same day, but that he specially valued the title of Captain given under these strange circumstances so highly, that he used it until the end of his life. His extraordinary ability soon brought him into notice, and he became junior partner with Mr. John Brai- thwaite and devoted himself to invention. The transmission of power by means of compressed air, the application of surface- condensers to marine engines, of the tubular principle to
• The Lifs of John Ericsson. By William Conant Church. 2 vols. London Sampson Low and Co. 1890.
boilers, and the use of artificial draught, were great and signal advances which rapidly succeeded one another. The firm also constructed engines for the Victory,' the vessel in which Captain Ross sought for the North-West Passage. Owing to Ross's misrepresentations and interference, these engines were quite unsuited to their purpose, and he eased his mind, and his vessel, by tumbling them overboard into the Arctic seas, and on his return accused Ericsson of gross neglect in their construc- tion. Ericsson replied in words so vigorous that a duel was threatened, and Mr. Felix Booth, who equipped the expedi- tion, was compelled to interfere. The portable steam fire- engine, which proved an unqualified and practical success, was Ericsson's next work ; but this was a generation before its time, and not until 1860 were almost exact reproductions of his invention, although in some respects inferior, adopted in this country. Next came the construction of the Novelty' locomotive, and the famous contest at Rainhill, of which Colonel Church gives an excellent account. Ericsson failed to obtain the prize of £500, but the failure was a glorious one, and contemporary opinion was in favour of his engine. To appreciate what Ericsson did, it must be remembered that he had only seven weeks to work in, that he had never built a locomotive before, and that he went to the contest without the opportunity for a trial. Stephenson, on the contrary, had been building locomotives for years, and was in every way equipped for the contest, and had practically completed his Rocket' before Ericsson began work, whilst he had full com- mand of the road for trials. In design, the Novelty' was vastly superior to the Rocket,' and had its construction, which showed defects all easy of correction, been equally good, Ericsson's engine would have won the prize. As it was, the Novelty' shot by the Rocket' like a projectile, and Sir Charles Fox, who was on the Novelty,' used to say that he could never forget the expression on the face of Robert Stephenson at that moment. The engine is said to have done a mile in fifty-five seconds. The hot-tempered Swede, thinking be had been unfairly treated, withdrew from the contest. Here it may be pointed out that the gauge on English railways is not 5 ft. 8i in., as stated by Colonel Church, but 4 ft. 84 in., which was the width between wheels on the old mail-coaches, had been adopted on tram-roads, and was followed by George Stephenson. He next turned his attention to the hot-air engine, which was a marvel of ingenuity, and a sore puzzle to the men of science of that day. Faraday, who was to lecture upon it at the Royal Institution, concluded at the last moment that he had made a mistake as to the principle on which it worked. "He accordingly commenced his lecture, greatly to the disappointment of Ericsson, by the announcement that he was unable to explain why the engine worked at all." In later years some thousands of these engines were in use, and brought their inventor a handsome return. Bat at this time, although Ericsson produced a host of minor inventions, most of them were more ingenious than profitable, the firm got into diffi- culties, and soon after his marriage, Ericsson found himself in the Fleet Prison for a time. The screw-propeller next engaged his most earnest attention, and in 1837 the Francis B. Ogden' was launched upon the Thames, and Ericsson brought his brilliantly successful experiment under the notice of the Admiralty. Sir William Symonds, at that time Director of Naval Construction, in whose hands the British Navy attained its highest perfection in all matters relating to sailing- ships only, rejected the new invention, on the ground that the power being applied in the stern, it would be absolutely impossible to make the vessel steer. Ericsson was greatly chagrined, and was persuaded to leave England for America by Captain Stockton, of the United States Navy, who saw what possibilities for improving ships of war lay in the new motor, and had two iron boats built on his own account. One of these, the Robert F. Stockton,' crossed the Atlantic and created intense excitement. Ericsson followed her six months later, in November, 1839, and never returned to Europe. His steam fire-engine was at once appreciated in America, but it was not until 1842 that he built the 'Princeton,' the first screw war-ship, which more than fulfilled expectations, and marked a new era in the construction of men-of-war. Ericsson had the satisfaction of seeing his opponents at the British Admiralty obliged to follow his lead. Of the subsequent treatment of Ericsson by Captain Stockton and the United States authorities, Colonel Church gives a remarkable narrative. It is enough to say here that Stockton repudiated Ericsson in a shameless way, and the Naval Department refused to pay his bill for two years' labour, and it remains unpaid. For some years after this, Ericsson worked indefatigably at his pro- fession, perfecting his hot-air engines for use at sea and on land. His wife joined him in America ; but he was so engrossed in his work that he paid her little attention, although he was fond and proud of her, and was a tender-hearted and affectionate man in his way. But he was not a man for domestic joys. He had no leisure for them. Mrs. Ericsson returned to England, until her husband should find the oppor- tunity, which never came, to rejoin her. They appear to have corresponded on affectionate terms until her death. When the Civil War broke out, and it was known that the Merrimac' was being fitted as an ironclad, the threatened destruction of the Federal Fleet was the subject of intense anxiety in the North. During the Crimean War, urged by his patriotism against the great foe of his beloved Sweden, Ericsson had sent drawings and a model of a turret-ship to the French Emperor. These had been returned with courteous thanks. Ericsson now produced them, and, fortunately for the North, a turret-ship was ordered forthwith. There was no time to be lost. In its construction Ericsson made the supreme effort of his life. Within one hundred days the Monitor' was built and her engines were under steam, and had the authorities supplied him with funds, she would have been completed in even less time. It is strange to read that he received from them no encouragement, and it was actually stipulated that if the vessel proved a
failure under fire, the money advanced should be repaid. His labours daring these three months were herculean. Every-
thing had to be contrived anew, and the whole of the structure in all its details was designed by Ericsson, and built from his working plans, every line being drawn by his own hand, whilst he personally superintended the construction of the ship. The vessel was said by her chief engineer to contain forty patentable contrivances. The story of the famous duel between the ironclad and the turret-ship is well known. Ericsson was bitterly disappointed that the result was a drawn battle ; but although the ' Monitor' was fought with plenty of pluck, very little judgment was shown, otherwise, on the admission of her enemies, she would have sunk her foe in twenty minutes. But the moral effect was incalculable. The North felt that they had one ship at least that could withstand the Merrimac.' The Battle of Hampton Roads caused the profoundest sensation, and it was regarded as the death-stroke to wooden ships-of-war.
Ericsson was called on to construct a fleet of monitors, which were soon under weigh :-
" With his usual energy he had commenced upon his working drawings as soon as the vessels were verbally agreed upon. His mind was a storehouse of principles and precedents from which he drew the material for new adjustments and applications of the mechanical powers. There was in his case, therefore, no need to delay for the laborious reference to authorities. When he had an important piece of work on hand, he would be found occupied for several days with his own thoughts, and seemingly idling away his time. Then he would call for drawing-paper, and plans would fly from his hands with such rapidity that the swiftest draughts- man could not follow him, and with such completeness of detail that he did not find it necessary to examine his work after it left the shop. The drawing representing the part of the machine requiring the most work appeared first, and the others followed in their order. One went to this shop or this department, another to that, and no one knew what the complete structure was like until the several parts were assembled, each fitting in the others like hand to glove. Well might Ericsson say he was able to despatch work as other men could not, because his methods of work were unlike those of other men."
Ericsson continued to construct monitors for the United
States and for foreign nations; but it was not until the Miantonomoh ' crossed the Atlantic that it was recognised that the 735 ships, including ironclads, in the Royal Navy were obsolete, and at the mercy of the Yankee vessel.
Ericsson had offered his free services to the Admiralty, but in vain. Had they been accepted, the recent history of the
British Navy would probably have been very different, and millions of money would have been saved to the State. Colonel Church gives some extremely interesting and instructive chapters containing Ericsson's views and endeavours in rela- tion to harbour-defence and sub-aquatic warfare, with an account of his torpedo-vessel, the Destroyer.' In addition to this, he worked at the building and mounting of heavy guns, in further improving the steam-engine, and in inventing and perfecting a solar engine which may yet have a great future before it.
Not the least interesting chapters in Colonel Church's
book are those which refer to the personal life and charac- teristics of the great engineer. He was before all things a worker, often spending fourteen hours a day at his drawing- board, at which he could do twice as much work as any ordinary man. When topographically surveying in the Jemt- land Chasseurs, under a system of payment by results, he was actually entered as two persons, to save his comrades from criticism. He toiled on until he was eighty-six ; and there is something pathetic in Colonel Church's account of the old man, determined to die in harness, acknowledging at last that his enforced rest was "more beautiful than words can tell." In temper he was hasty and impetuous, but an apology always turned his wrath. He neglected his wife for his work, and. complained that she was jealous of a steam-engine ; but he was a most devoted son to his mother, and affectionate towards his kinsfolk. His patriotism was unbounded, and among all the honours conferred upon him, none pleased him more, nor touched him so nearly, as the erection of a monu- ment at Langsbanshyttan, the spot where he was born. Many were the services he gladly rendered to Sweden and to Swedes. Colonel Church has done his work excellently. He has allowed Ericsson to speak for himself whenever it was possible, and his own part of the book is deserving of high praise. It is worthy of remark that, as Cromwell died on the anniversary of Dunbar and Worcester fights, his " fortunate day," so Ericsson died March 8th, 1889, the twenty-seventh anniversary of the commencement of the conflict in Hampton Roads, wherein, by the successful action on the second day of his turret-ship, he relieved the agony of the Northern States, and " built himself an everlasting name."
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