PURPOSE-WILL OF AN INVENTOR

into a workshop and began to invent machinery.
He formed a Purpose in his mind to make
great machines.
When he was thirty-one, a great steamship
was being made. The work on it was held up
because there was no hammer big enough in
the world to make the paddle-shaft.
Young James Nasmyth sat down and in
half an hour drew the design of the famous
Nasmyth steam-hammer. For the first time
it became possible to build great structures of
iron and steel. This hammer revolutionized
the whole process of forging metal.
Then he invented a great pile-driver. It was
used to drive the piles of St. Petersburg, and
the Czar sent him a diamond ring to express
the thanks of Russia.
Next, he invented a hydraulic press that
could exert a pressure of 20,000 Ibs. It was a
giant in those days. Whenever a firm wanted
a new machine of great power, it asked for
help from Nasmyth. And he built up one of
the great engineering firms of the world, which
is still in existence and still making great
machines and engines.
First, he noticed that first railway engine.
Then he concentrated all his abilities upon the
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