James Hall Nasmyth (sometimes spelled Naesmyth, Nasmith, or Nesmyth) (August 19, 1808 – May 7, 1890) was a Scottish engineer and inventor famous for his development of the steam hammer. He was the co-founder of Nasmyth, Gaskell and Company manufacturers of machine tools. He retired at the age of 48, and moved to Penshurst, Kent where he developed his hobbies of astronomy and photography.
His father Alexander Nasmyth was a landscape and portrait p...
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James Hall Nasmyth (sometimes spelled Naesmyth, Nasmith, or Nesmyth) (August 19, 1808 – May 7, 1890) was a Scottish engineer and inventor famous for his development of the steam hammer. He was the co-founder of Nasmyth, Gaskell and Company manufacturers of machine tools. He retired at the age of 48, and moved to Penshurst, Kent where he developed his hobbies of astronomy and photography.
His father Alexander Nasmyth was a landscape and portrait painter in Edinburgh, where James was born. One of Alexander's hobbies was mechanics and he employed nearly all his spare time in his workshop where he encouraged his youngest son to work with him in all sorts of materials. James was sent to the Royal High School where he had as a friend Jemmy Patterson, the son of a local iron founder. Being already interested in mechanics he spent much of his time at the foundry and there he gradually learned to work and turn in wood, brass, iron, and
In May 1829 Nasmyth visited Maudslay in London, and after...
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