Portal:Scotland/Selected article/Week 45, 2009



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. 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 steel. In 1820 he left the High School and again made great use of his father's workshop where at the age of 17, he made his first steam engine. Some years later the subject of steam carriages for use on the roads was arousing a lot of interest and in 1828 James made a complete steam carriage that was capable of running a mile carrying 8 passengers.