I now took a more prominent part myself in steam-engine design. I had got an idea from Mr. Sparks that took full possession of my mind. This was the exceedingly unmechanical nature of the single or overhanging crank. The engines of the “New York,” built by Caird & Co., of Greenock, were among the first of the direct inverted-cylinder engines applied to screw propulsion. They were then known as the steam-hammer engines, their leading feature being taken from Mr. Nasmyth’s invention. I am not sure but Caird & Co. were the first to make this application. The forward engine had a single crank. The vital defect of this construction became especially apparent in these vertical engines of large power. The stress on the cap bolts during the upward strokes and the deflection of the shaft alternately in opposite directions over the pillow-block as a fulcrum were very serious. Mr. Sparks told me that on his very first voyage he had a great deal of trouble with this forward bearing, and it caused him continual anxiety. He got into such a state of worry and apprehension that as soon as he reached New York he wrote to the firm: “For God’s sake, never make another pair of engines without giving a double crank to the forward engine.” The reply he got was, to mind his own business: they employed him to run their engines; they would attend to the designing of them. He told me not long after that he had the satisfaction of seeing every ship they built except his own disabled, either by a broken shaft or broken pillow-block bolts. He attributed the escape of the “New York” from a like disaster to his own extreme care. They did, however, adopt his suggestion on all future vessels, and, moreover, added a forward crank and pillow-block to the engines already built. This they evidently found themselves compelled to do. I saw this addition afterwards on the “Bremen,” sister ship to the “New York.” The added pillow-block was supported by a heavy casting bolted to the forward end of the bedplate.